Warning: Descriptions of murder, blood, and gore.
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"Are you alright now?" (Y/n) asked the yellow-haired boy beside her and offered him another paper napkin. He nodded.
The girl walked in between the two boys, Tanjiro at her right and Zenitsu at her left. Tanjiro made sure to be wary of the yellow-triangle-themed creature that walked beside his partner.
"Now that I've calmed down, I'm getting a bit hungry..." Zenitsu mumbled as he blew his nose with the napkin.
"Honestly, same," Tanjiro said.
"That's why I told you to bring food with yourself, Tanjiro Kamado," (Y/n) scolded. "But you were too busy obsessing over my concussion."
"About that..."
The girl sighed and handed the boys two rice balls. "I bought these from a store earlier."
"Oh, thank you," said Zenitsu. Tanjiro took one too.
"Don't you have anything to eat?" Tanjiro asked.
"That was all I had. Don't worry though, I'm alright," (Y/n) smiled.
"Not at all. You have to take half," Tanjiro divided his rice ball into two and offered it to the girl.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course!" He smiled.
"Here, you take half of mine too," Zenitsu also gave (Y/n) half of his rice ball.
"You don't have to, you know," she took the rice ball.
"I insist, don't worry."
Tanjiro glared at Zenitsu, but he didn't seem to notice. If anything, he was trying to get closer to the girl because he wanted to find out if the two were dating.
"They're definitely dating..." he grumbled in his head.
"Is he trying to take (Y/n)-chan from me? I REALLY hope not, it might cost him a lot," Tanjiro gritted his teeth. "Or maybe I'm judging him too fast..."
"CAW! RUN FOR IT!" Tanjiro's crow, Matsuemon Tennoji (but let's just call him Tennoji), who had disappeared a few minutes ago, and Yoshi appeared again. "Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and (Y/n), run for it!"
"You guys are too lazy. Can't you go southeast already?" Yoshi complained.
"THE CROWS TALK?!?!?!"
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"Goodness (Y/n), Tanjiro. I don't think I'll be of any help to you guys as your companion," Zenitsu complained for the 16th time.
"Hmm, don't worry. I'm sure you'll be fine," Tanjiro said absentmindedly as he climbed the hill along with others in search of the demon.
"So here we are... Tanjiro-kun, gimme Nezuko's box," (Y/n) snatched the box from Tanjiro's shoulders.
"Aw, not again," he whined.
"What's that?" Zenitsu shrieked as he pointed in front of him.
"It's a... house. In the middle of nowhere," replied the girl. "Why is it here?"
"So the scent was coming from here..." Tanjiro muttered in concentration, searching for more scents as he approached the clearing containing the house.
"I did sense a presence. Yep, it's probably here," said (Y/n).
"What are you guys about? Never mind the presence or the smell, what about the sound coming from the house?"
"Sound? I can't hear anything," replied Tanjiro.
"Guys?" (Y/n) said from behind the boys. "There are children here."
The boys turned to see a boy, about eleven years of age, hugging a girl in fear who seemed to be his little sister.
"What are you kids doing here?" Tanjiro approached the kids but they cowered away in fear.
"They seem quite terrified," he thought.
"Okay, I'll show you something you might like," he kneeled in front of the kids and put on his big-brother mode. He brought out Chuntaro, Zenitsu's sparrow, from behind him in his hand and showed it to the kids.
"Chu! Chu!" the sparrow jumped cutely in order to try and comfort the kids. It worked.
"Isn't it cute?" Tanjiro smiled.
"Chu!"
The children teared up.
"Can you tell me what happened? I promise we're not here to hurt you," Tanjiro reassured. "Is this your house?"
"No, not at all," the boy said. "This is... a haunted house," he stuttered, trying not to cry as the little girl hugged him.
"They took our older brother. We were on the road one night, a-and suddenly there was a monster that I never saw before," he held back his tears. "It d-didn't notice us. It only took our brother."
"Did it go into that house?" (Y/n) asked as she stepped towards the kids. The kids nodded.
"So you trailed them all the way here?" she smiled. "That's awesome. You did great."
"We followed our brother's blood tail because he was injured." The siblings started crying.
(Y/n)'s breath hitched in her throat upon hearing their distress. "It's going to be alright," she patted their heads. "Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and I will do our best to save your brother from those scary guys."
"R-really?" The little girl asked as her sobbing ceased.
"Of course!"
"T-Tanjiro, (Y/n)," Zenitsu asked the other two and he faced the building. "What sound this is? The noise is making me uneasy..."
"What noise?" the older girl asked.
"It kind of sounds like a drum," he replied. "From there," he pointed towards the balcony of the house with an open door.
"I can hear it now," said Tanjiro. "The drum sound is growing louder."
The sound continued growing its frequency till it sounded like the whole area around them could hear it. Birds flew out of their trees. When it seemed like it couldn't grow any louder, something got thrown down the balcony door. Splat.
"It's a body!" Zenitsu shouted as the person, dead or alive, dropped to the floor, creating a huge pool of blood beneath it.
"Don't look!" Tanjiro told the kids.
The person was covered head to toe in blood. His whole yukata and beige kimono were soaked in blood. A huge gash was present on his cheek. Blood spilled out of the person's mouth as his unblinking eyes made the scene look extremely disturbing.
Tanjiro ran towards him "Are you alright? Pull yourself together!" He lifted the person's head.
"The wounds are so deep, it's treacherous," the girl felt horrified as she walked towards them.
"I-I got out..." the man sputtered out. "I had so m-much trouble to get out of here," he choked on his blood. "Now you c-can see that I-I'm out... Am I going to die?"
Tanjiro hugged the man. "I promise I'm going to find the demon that did this to you."
And just like that, the man took his last breath and passed away as his eyes lost any color that they had. One second there was something, the very next it was gone.
Forever.
Tanjiro turned to the siblings. "Is that your..."
"N-no," the girl choked out a sob. "Our brother wore a persimmon kimono."
Meanwhile, (Y/n) felt difficulty breathing seeing the scene in front of her.
The sound of the drum beating appeared again even louder this time, causing the entire house to vibrate, almost making it seem like an earthquake was taking place. It stopped after a few seconds, but it only scared the boy's little sister even more.
"Hey, hey, calm down," Tanjiro said in a calming tone. He kneeled down in front of the little girl. "It's going to be alright. We will find your brother."
Her crying decreased as she nodded.
"I promise I'll bury you as soon as I get back. I'm sorry," Tanjiro looked back at the body.
"Zenitsu, let's go. (Y/n)-chan, you'll stay here with the kids while Zenitsu and I will go inside the house."
"No way! I'm coming with you," she protested.
"What if you get hurt? Didn't you see him?" Tanjiro said.
"I won't get hurt. Are you underestimating me? Hold my Nezuko, I'm going in," she ran inside the mansion after handing Nezuko's box to Tanjiro.
"Wai- come back here!" he shouted, but the girl was already gone.
He sighed. "Zenitsu, let's go."
Zenitsu nodded no violently, as he held back tears while trembling.
"We can't leave (Y/n) alone. You need to come."
"N-no. I DON'T WANT TO!" he cried.
"Okay. I see now," Tanjiro gave his disgusted face.
"NOO! Why are you making that demonic face????" Zenitsu grabbed Tanjiro's legs as he continued walking. "I'm coming! I'm sorry," he cried.
"I didn't force you to come," Tanjiro growled.
"I said I'm sorry!!!" he cried out loud.
Tanjiro suddenly turned back and removed Nezuko's box from his shoulders.
"Oh, I nearly forgot about you guys. I'm sorry," he put Nezuko's box before the scared kids. "As a precaution, I'll leave this box here. It will protect you in case anything bad happens."
He got up hurriedly, not wanting to leave (Y/n) alone. "Alright, we're going in now. We'll be back soon, alright?"
Zenitsu ran towards the mansion door and entered it, Tanjiro following in pursuit. "(Y/nnnnnnnn)!!!!! Don't leave me alone!!"
"Tch. Why is he already so clingy? That's my job."
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The lights glowed a dim orange that hung on the ceiling of the mansion. No other source of light was provided as the windows were very rare to come across, the those which Zenitsu and Tanjiro did see were curtained with tattered thick cloth. The relatively narrow passageway compared to that of a normal house occasionally had pots or utensils on the sides, as if a human used to live in there once. However, it didn't seem habitable.
"Tanjiro," Zenitsu shivered while crying softly. "You'll protect me, right? Where did (Y/n) even go?"
"I'm trying to locate her, but so many scents are scattered around the mansion. It's difficul-"
"BOO!" (Y/n) jumped from behind a turn in front of them which scared the life out of Zenitsu and he ran away screaming.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! HELPPPP!!!" he sobbed. While running away, he hit a wall which sent dozens of pots from a shelf above him to fall on his head.
"WAHHHHHHH! OUCHHHH!!!" Zenitsu sobbed.
"Where were you?? I was so worried!" Tanjiro hugged (Y/n), who was sincerely concerned for Zenitsu at that moment.
"I wanted to lighten up the mood, but that didn't work," she chuckled before breaking away from the hug and kneeling down in front of the crying Zenitsu.
"Are you alright? I hope your head isn't bleeding." She checked his head by gently ruffling his hair, making his heart skip a beat. "Yep, you're not bleeding. It'll be fine."
Zenitsu gasped before turning a tomato shade of red and squeezing the girl into a hug, crying. "I missed you!"
This surprised (Y/n) as they had only met that day. Nevertheless, she brushed it off and shrugged. "It's alright, please don't make too much noise," she cringed at the loudness of his crying. "I detected over two demons while I was here alone, and we don't want them to corner us, do we?"
"What!??!?" he exclaimed but managed to lower his voice. "You both will protect me, won't you???"
The girl sighed. "I'm sorry to reveal this just now, but I have a concussion and Tanjiro has a sprain in his right ankle. It might affect our abilities to fight."
Who knew all it took was that to cause a mental breakdown?
"YOUR INJURIES HAVEN'T COMPLETELY HEALED YET?!?!" he shouted as (Y/n) signaled him to shut up yet he didn't budge. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!?!?!? How can you protect me with a broken skull and a nearly broken ankle??? Are you kidding me right now?"
At this point, his whole face was covered in mucus and tears.
"Er... You need this?" she handed him a tissue.
"I'm going to die and all you care about is a tissue???"
In the background, Tanjiro was trying to hold back his laughter. Maybe he didn't mind him that much after all.
"What should I do!??!? I'M DOOMED! I'M TOAST! SMOKING HOT BURNT TOAST!" he sobbed.
"Calm down, Zenitsu," Tanjiro chuckled. "You'll be alright. If you want to survive, don't shout too loudly to attract demons. Just calm down."
He calmed down a notch. "How could you have injuries? There's over a 99% chance of me dying. You'll be responsible for a murder," he sniffled.
"You won't die," (Y/n) sighed. "I hope so."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN!?!??!"
"Don't come here!" Tanjiro shouted which caused Zenitsu to scream again. (Y/n) looked up to see the siblings coming towards them.
"The demons are definitely coming here at this point..." she thought.
"You can't come here! It's dangerous!" Tanjiro scolded the kids.
"Onii-chan, that box made a rattling sound!" the older brother said, walking towards the trio while holding his sister's hand.
"You shouldn't have left it like that... It's more precious than my life, you know," Tanjiro said worriedly.
The house started shaking again, the tremors as strong as a huge earthquake.
"Stay with me!" Tanjiro held the little girl and backed away toward the entrance of another room to prevent things from falling on her.
The drum beats again.
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I would like to apologize for my inactivity for over a month. My December is laden with exams so you guys can expect a new chapter by the end of the month. However, I developed a bunch of ideas while studying (because I was bored), so the story is promised to get more exciting my the Natagumo mountain arc 🤭
Another thing I would like to mention is that instead of providing information in bits, I'll add it to my A/N. It was last edited today (as I have written in the A/N itself) and I will continue to tell you about the new information through this space in chapters while adding it in the A/N too. I aged up Genya to Muichiro's age, 18. If you don't feel comfortable with me making characters who were minors in the anime love interests, you probably shouldn't continue reading. And #3: (Y/n) will be bisexual, so we can get the women as well 🥳✨
Rui proposes to Nezuko. Nezuko not having it.