Y/n slowly made his way throughout the wisteria forest, brushing his fingers against the purple flowers. It calmed his nerves a little bit, but he was still weary. It was a little scary to take an exam where you either die, or you pass and you die later. He still kept a brave face on though. He stepped to the entrance and spotted about 20 kids there. Interesting. Quite a few caught his eye. There was a blonde kid who seemed scared out of his mind who kept muttering to himself. On the contrary, there was a girl with dark hair and a butterfly ornament in her hair who seemed completely content and relaxed, as if she wasn't being shipped off to her doom. A specific, dark haired boy with red tips and a birthmark on his forehead caught his eye. He seemed awfully familiar. Y/n was positive that he'd seen that combination of red and black hair and red eyes somewhere. He took a deep breath and approached the other boy.
"I-Im sorry to disturb you-" Y/n said with a rocky start, stammering. The boy turned around to lock eyes with the slightly smaller boy, his kind gaze calming the h/c haired boy down. "- but I couldn't help but think that you look familiar"
"Hm..." the other boy tapped his chin, examining the nervous male. "Oh!" he snapped his fingers and a smile spread across his face. "You're Y/n! Im Tanjiro. We lived next to the same village, we often hung out there! Remember?"
The similarity finally clicked in Y/n's brain and he beamed. "Oh!" he nodded. "Gee, I haven't seen you in a while"
"Tell me about it" Tanjiro chuckled lightly as he eyed the other boy. He remembered when those e/c eyes were filled with tears threatening to fall after he had gotten beaten up by bullies again. The red head often had to come to Y/n's aid and scare the bullies away. The h/c no longer looked so scared though. The defeated look in his eyes was gone. He was far stronger, granted still anxious and awkward, but he looked more determined to help people. Tanjiro also recalled Nezuko having a teensy crush on him. He didn't used to be able to see it before, but he could definitely see where his sister was coming from. Y/n had charismatic, e/c eyes that seemed oddly dull compared to how cheerful he came on. His h/c locks were as messy as they were before, but this time he had at least tried to look decent. His s/c skin made his eyes pop more than they already did. Y/n was very charming indeed. He had a chipper, but melancholy whiff to him. Like a smell of mysticism.
Tanjiro's train of thought broken when the two young girls started talking. After small introduction, they announced the beginning of final selection.
"Hey" Y/n patted Tanjiro's shoulder, who turned around to look at him. "See you on the other side" the h/c mused and ran off into the forest. The boy in the blue wave haori looked at him in awe. Though, the comment concerned him a little. He wasn't sure whether the boy was talking about the end of final selection or death.
Y/n hopped from tree to tree, pausing on a high branch to think. Since demons only came out at night, he would need to defend himself then. The night wasn't safe and he couldn't afford to take his guard dow, so he'd have to go nocturnal for a while, which wasn't a problem considering he usually stayed up late anyway. It would probably be a good idea to get some food while it was still light out though. Y/n groaned in frustration as he scuttled down the trunk of the tree. He was lazy, and frankly, right now he just wanted to nap. He hurried over to a river to get it over with. He stabbed the sword into the water a couple times, but to no avail. Okay, maybe hunting fish wasn't brilliant. He gave it a couple more tries, and actually ended up catching about 3 fish. Should last him about 1 and a half days.
Since fishing was a pathetic failure, he decided to explore the rest of the forest, either until dawn or until he found food. He sprinted through the thick forest, waiting to find a deer or a rabbit, anything that he could harvest for food. His train of thought was interrupted by a loud scream. He yelped and slammed his face into the ground, his focused running interrupted completely. Someone was in danger. He had to help them! Y/n scrambled to his feet and started booking it in the direction of the screaming.
"Nooo! Don't eat me! Please! Im not tasty!" a blonde shrieked and crawled away from the demon on all fours.
Y/n didn't hesitate for a second. He instantly came to the blondes aid. He leapt into the air and flew in the direction of the beast. "Breath of gold, 3rd form: golden glow!"
A bright, warm light flooded the nearby area, giving Y/n enough time to cut the demons head off. The demons body crumbled to the floor and started dissolving into nothing. The h/c boy gently landed on the ground. The blondie gawked at him. Then he started sobbing and crying hysterically. He clung onto Y/n's haori.
"H-hey!" the e/c eyed boy stuttered, trying to push the boy with the yellow haori off.
"Sir! Please! Protect meeee! I won't live!!" the boy wailed.
"Okay, okay, just bugger off!" Y/n barked and pulled the blonde boy, who was clinging to his leg, off of him. "Whats your name?" he asked.
"Zenitsu" he replied, still sobbing a little.
"Alright, Zenitsu. My name is Y/n, lets calm down" Y/n said gently and placed his hands on the blondes shoulders. Tears soon stopped streaming down his face. "There" Y/n said kindly. "All better now, huh?"
"Zenitsu!" A childish voice screamed. An angered brunette came out from the shadows. Zenitsu yelped and cowered behind Y/n. "Zenitsu you bastard!" he growled and came up the him, dragging him up. "Did you seriously leave me behind?!" his thick accent was prominent in his yelling.
"I panicked, Kai!" Zenitsu yelled back, trying to justify himself. The brunette scoffed and dropped Zenitsu, who scrambled to his feet. It was a little funny, because the boy, who was apparently named Kai, was significantly shorter than Zenitsu. The only thing keeping them at a similar height was the fact that he had heels. He let out a scoff, his wavy brown hair, that was cut off right at his ears hopped up a little bit. His stern eyes locked with Y/n's confused ones. The h/c boy tensed up at the coldness of them. They seemed oddly... empty. Kai seemed to have a little freak out session because he immediately started apologising for Zenitsu.
"Im so sorry! Zenitsu can get way out of line! Please accept this small gift in return for your troubles!" Kai apologised profusely and handed Y/n a couple of sticks of incense.
"Uh... thanks..?" the h/c boy thanked in confusion.
"We'd better be off now. Once again, so sorry for your troubles" Kai apologised and started dragging Zenitsu away.
"Noooo! Y/n-kuuun! He protected meee! He's strong!" Zenitsu whined in retaliation.
Kai just muttered some cuss words under his breath as he continued dragging the blonde boy. "Lets go you big baby!" he barked. He was very clearly Russian, which wasn't common in Japan, so the h/c looked after him in awe.
Y/n smiled nervously. He had a feeling that wouldn't be the last time he'll see them.
The boy continued running and ended up finding a fawn. Perfect! About 4 more days worth of food. He lit a small fire using his 1st form and started cooking the food.
"Cooking food are we, your highness?" A cheeky voice echoed through the forest, which startled Y/n. He stood up and grabbed the hilt of his katana, ready for any attacks. "Woah, It's just me!" Tanjiro laughed and walked into the line of sight. Y/n relaxed and sat down.
"I like my food cooked, sue me!" Y/n childishly stuck his tongue out and kept cooking his food. "Would you like to join me?" he asked and patted a spot next to him. Tanjiro gladly took the seat.
"How are you on this fine evening?" Tanjiro asked.
"Im doing swell" the e/c eyed boy replied in a fake posh accent, making Tanjiro snicker slightly. "After all, I did just defeat a demon!" he stated proudly and puffed out his chest. The red haired boy laughed some more.
"You're so childish..." he mumbled and thought back. Y/n always was a cocky little shit, but this is the first time that he actually did what he claimed.
"Yeah, I defeated the biggest kid in town!" a small, h/c haired boy with 2 bright eyes and a missing tooth insisted with a small lisp.
"Yeah right!" A few kids scoffed.
"Seriously! He fears me now!"
"Interesting, because Im the toughest guy here and I don't remember fighting a shrimp like you!" a boy yelled and harshly pushed Y/n against a wall, before landing him a punch in the face. He fell to the floor. "Get up!" the large boy barked and kicked him in the stomach.
"Stop it! Stop kicking him when he's down!" A black haired girl walked with tears in her eyes.
"Nezuko, calm down..." Tanjiro held her hand and sent a worried look at Y/n, who was desperately trying to fight the bully with a determined look on his face.
"Tanjiro! Protect him! You have to!" Nezuko said with tears in her eyes. Tanjiro nodded and wearily stepped to the fighting duo.
"Hey!" he yelled and stepping in front of the bruised boy. "Get lost! Go!" he shooed, making the gang snicker and trudge off. Tanjiro gently dropped to his knees and cupped Y/n's face in his hands. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah!" the other boy said with a big, toothy grin.
"Oi! Are you there?" Y/n asked and waved his hand in front of Tanjiro's face.
"Yeah! Im sorry, I zoned out" Tanjiro chuckled a little bit.
"No need to apologise" Y/n smiled happily and went back to cooking. "Hey, Tanji" he started again after a moment of silence.
"Hm?"
"Why aren't you with your family?"
Tanjiro looked at the other boy with a pained expression.
"What? It's an innocent question!" Y/n immediately got defensive, thinking that Tanjiro was mad at him. He soon saw that he was wrong when he saw how miserable he looked. The h/c's defensive nature softened up. "Hey, whats wrong..?" he asked in a more gentle tone.
"They were eaten by a demon..." Tanjiro mumbled quietly and averted his gaze, a sad smile on his face.
"O-oh..." Y/n stammered awkwardly and looked at the ground. A mixture of anger, pity and confusion swirled around in his eyes.
"Wait, why are you here?" Tanjiro asked and looked back at the other boy.
"I ran away from home" he replied simply.
"What? Why would you do that?" Tanjiro asked and turned his body towards the other boy.
"You know my, uh... what people liked to call as a joke 'my crazy Russian mother'?" Y/n started and rubbed the nape of his neck. Tanjiro nodded as a sign that he knew what he was talking about. "Yeah, about that... I fucked up... I really fucked up. I got in a fight with some of the kids in the village... goddamn brats fucking snitched on me and I got into huge trouble at home. I wasn't safe there anymore, so I grabbed my haori and... left. That wasn't the best solution though, because, for one it infuriated my mother even more and second I got attacked by a demon and got this" he pointed at his face, revealing a huge scar across his right eye. "Cant see anymore out of the damn thing... But Asahi took me in and taught me to fight, so its all good" Y/n dismissed the topic.
"Heh... poor us, huh?" Tanjiro muttered and chuckled.
"No time to wallow in self-pity! We're strong now, and we will defeat the demons!" Y/n yelled cockily and jumped into the air, raising his arms to show triumph. Tanjiro laughed playfully and stood up as well.
"Yeah! We'll be the strongest demon slayers!" the red headed boy cheered and turned to Y/n with a bright smile on his face. The golden flames shone dimly and reflected onto his s/c face. The gold light seemed to add a light to the boys naturally dull eyes. As if it added a spark to them. Tanjiro's eyes fell onto Y/n's scar. He frowned slightly. It seemed that it didn't heal properly. The maroon-eyed boys hands rose to cup the smaller boys face, gently pulling it slightly forward so that he could examine the wound better. After a minute of silence, Y/n turned bright red.
"Agh! Tanjiro, what are you doing?!" he screamed and pulled away, holding his own face as if he were trying to hide how red he really was.
"What?" Tanjiro asked innocently and frowned slightly. "It looked like the wound didn't heal properly, I was just checking" he said innocently, an oblivious look on his face.
"He's dense as a rock!" Y/n mused to himself and scoffed, lowering his hands and crossing them across his chest. "Whatever" he muttered in a tsundere manner. He internally cringed to himself at how he was acting.
A loud thunderclap rang through the forest and disrupted the two boys. They looked up and into the distance, trying to see where the lighting and thundering could've come from, but to no avail.
"Huh, it isn't raining..." Y/n mumbled to himself and stuck a hand out to try to catch any spare raindrops.
"We should seek shelter just in case" Tanjiro mused and started jogging into the forest.
"W-wait! The fire!" Y/n stopped him and pointed at the fire that was still going strong.
"Oh... um..." Tanjiro thought to himself before snapping his fingers as an idea popped into his head. "Water breathing, 8th form: Waterfall basin!". The boy with the red hair jabbed his sword right in the middle of the makeshift fireplace and a geyser of water shot from the ground, a force so large that it pushed Y/n back a little. "There!" Tanjiro chirped and helped the boy up before dragging him to a wisteria tree that was nearby. "You can rest here if you want- I can keep watch"
"Nonsense, I'll keep you company!" Y/n grinned and scuttled up the tree, sitting on a low branch and letting his limbs hang from it. Tanjiro remained on the ground, resting his back against the thick trunk of the tree.