☁︎︎ Third POV
Y/n and Tanjiro both pointed their spears at the hand demon before them.
"You get their head, I'll cover you," Y/n muttered as he didn't take his eyes off of the demon.
Tanjiro nodded and side glanced Y/n.
The hand demon lunched his arms at the two slayers. Y/n jumped in front of Tanjiro and sliced them giving Tanjiro a clearing to jump.
The hand demon looked up and was ready to aim his hands at Tanjiro once again. When he did, he was caught of guard when Y/n sliced the arms and looked at the demon with dull eyes. The demon flinched at the dead-like eyes.
"Breath of Water, First Form: Water Surface Slice!" Tanjiro sliced right where the demon's neck will be, a line of waves followed.
Y/n's eyes slightly widened at the water as the demon's head flew off of it's body. He shook his head and watched as Tanjiro landed on the ground. He walked up to the redhead and looked down at the disintegrating demon with dull eyes.
Tanjiro glanced at Y/n before turning to the demon with sorrowful eyes. The demon was surprised by the pitiful expression.
Tanjiro turned to the body, which was holding out a hand in a pleading and sad manner. Y/n walked up to the demon's head and crouched down on it.
The demon watched as the water breather held his hand in pity. He felt himself being lifted up and placed on the cloud breather's lap.
"I pray that you have a better life next time," Y/n whispered.
The hand demon felt tears start to bubble up.
"Have a good rest, you deserve it."
The demon slowly disappeared into ashes. It's tears were left behind on the forest floor.
Y/n blinked as he got up from his sitting position and turned to Tanjiro. He walked up to the taller male and placed a hand on his shoulder for comforting. Tanjiro perked up at the sudden warmth and turned to Y/n.
Tanjiro smiled and bowed, "Thank you for your help, Y/n, I must've been a burden," he said in a polite manner.
Y/n shook his head, "I've actually been meaning to met you, Tanjiro-San. I just so happened to run into you now which helps me from trying to find you anywhere else," he stated.
Tanjiro looked up in surprise. He didn't expect to wanting to be found.
"May I ask why you've been meaning to find me?"
"No."
Tanjiro sweatdropped at the blunt manner.
"Well, my mentor had told me about you and how I needed to stay by your side. That's all I can inform unfortunately," Y/n quickly said as he nervously looked away.
Tanjiro nodded and held out his hand, "Well, I think we should get to know each other, right, Y/n?" He said with a smile.
Y/n looked at the hand than at his own hand. He copied Tanjiro's hand movement and shook hands with the taller.
"It's a pleasure to finally met, Tanjiro Kamado."
☁︎︎ Time Skip ☁︎
"So, you use breath of water, correct?" Y/n asked as he mindlessly sliced a demon's head off in one go.
"U-uh, yeah," Tanjiro stuttered as he had just witnessed Y/n swiftly kill a demon.
"You should get used to me doing this. I focus on swift and agile attacks, however I'm not all that powerful, unlike you, you're fast and strong, a prefect balance."
Tanjiro rubbed the back of his neck and blushed a bit, not used to complements, "I-I mean, I still a long ways to go, I'm not all that special. Plus, it seems like you got everything under control," he lightly laughed.
Y/n looked at Tanjiro up and down, "I believe that you can have everything 'under control' soon. You seem like the person who wouldn't give up, you're very determined, it's written all over your aura."
Tanjiro stared at Y/n with a light blush. He could tell that Y/n wasn't lying, it warmed his heart knowing that people can support him all the way through.
"Thanks, Y/n, that means a lot to me," Tanjiro stated with a kind smile.
Y/n only looked at Tanjiro. He wanted to smile back, he really did, but he couldn't. Now that he thought about it, he can cry now, remembering on how he cried during a training with Yoriichi. Poor soul thought he broke Y/n.
"So, you do breathe of clouds," Tanjiro said suddenly, "I haven't heard that one before."
Y/n nodded as he spun his katana with his wrist, "Neither has my mentor, I think I'm the only one who uses it at the moment."
"Amazing, so that means your special huh?"
"It's not anything to get excited about, all of the forms are quick but not as powerful as yours. If anything's special it's you, Tanjiro-San."
"Ah! Please stop complementing me! Give yourself some credit here too!" Tanjiro lightly scolded.
Y/n only waved Tanjiro off. This made Tanjiro huff a bit. Tanjiro grabbed onto Y/n arm, making him stumble backwards.
"Say something good about yourself! You can't just keep complementing me all the time!"
"..."
Tanjiro huffed and puffed his cheeks as he looked at Y/n. Y/n just had a blank face while he blinked.
"But there's nothing to complement on me?" Y/n cooked his head to the side.
Tanjiro pouted, "Come on, there had to be something you like about yourself! Like how your the only breathe user? How about your hair? Come on, Y/n, be nice to yourself!"
A light pink dusted Y/n's cheeks but he shook it away, "I've barely gotten any complements at home, so I don't know how to do complement myself. Other people are easy, however," he stated with a blank face.
"What??" Tanjiro looked at Y/n in surprise, "Haven't your Okaasan or Otosan complemented you before? How about a sibling of some sort?"
"Well, my parents only say 'thank you' or 'you did your best' when 'complementing' me, and my Ototo used to say stuff about me, but that was because he was childish," Y/n stated as he scratched his cheek.
"'Used to'? I'm sorry, but did something happen to them?" Tanjiro asked.
"Oh... they're dead now. That's why I'm here, to protect the innocent people who went through the same as me."
Tanjiro stopped walking, making Y/n stop too. He looked at the shorter male with sorrowful eyes.
"I'm sorry for bringing up your family, Y/n, I had no idea," Tanjiro muttered.
Y/n shook his head, "It's okay, I've moved on a while ago. At least you still have your family, right?"
Tanjiro looked to the side. Y/n blinked in realization.
"Oh... oh Tanjiro, I'm sorry," Y/n said as he softly tugged on the taller's sleeve.
"Ah, it's okay, I still have my sister with me, so everything is good," Tanjiro whispered as tears started to build up.
Y/n slightly furrow his brows. He sensed that Tanjiro's aura had saddened. He looked around the forest and saw that no demons or slayer were near by.
He softly grabbed onto Tanjiro's hand, making the other male to look up at him. Although Y/n's eyes were dull, Tanjiro could tell that they were really comforting.
"It'll be okay Tanjiro-San, we have each other now. We'll become demon slayer together now, we'll become the greatest, and I will protect you and your sister, I promise, Tanjiro-San," Y/n said with determination.
Tanjiro's eyes shined at this, he slightly blushed at the contact. He could smell that Y/n was not lying, than again he didn't need to lie since Tanjiro knew that he will always say the truth to him.
"Yeah," Tanjiro muttered as he squeezed the other's hand, "Thank you, Y/n..."
Y/n nodded and held onto Tanjiro's hand the whole way while they walked. Tanjiro couldn't help but blush.
☁︎︎ Time Skip ☁︎
Y/n and Tanjiro sat in a tall tree where barely any demons could reach them. Well, Tanjiro was laying down in Y/n's lap sleeping while the other male kept a look out.
"Ne, Yoriichi-sensei, Tanjiro-San is your breath user, right?" Y/n asked the spirit who was floating next him.
"Correct, he just needs a bit more practice before he can start using it however," Yoriichi stated with a slight pout on his face.
Y/n didn't notice the pout however, "How much longer until he can use it? We have no idea when Muzan-San will attack us."
"Why must you address the king of demons so formally?"
"I... I don't know. It's second nature for me to respect someone no matter what."
Yoriichi sighed and floated to where Y/n was sitting. He watched as Y/n stroke Tanjiro's hair. He sat down next to Y/n and pouted.
"What's wrong, Yoriichi-sensei?" Y/n asked as he looked at the pouting spirit.
"It's... it's nothing..." Yoriichi grumbled.
Y/n looked at Yoriichi and blinked in questioning. He pulled Yoriichi to his shoulder and began petting the male in a comforting manner.
Yoriichi didn't say anything and let the younger be. He lightly blushed as Y/n played with his hair. He liked this, it was so warm to him. He honestly didn't want this to end.
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