!Now available on ao3! Same name, same author!
boketto (Japanese)
- the act of gazing vacantly into the distance without thinking.
*~-~*
In which young Y/n is shown there's more to life than fulfilling a duty.
And a young Tanjiro learns that first...
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Angry people are not always wise.
Jane Austen
"Tanjiro!" I shouted, standing to my feet and only able to watch as the boy dashed away, seeming to either not have heard or was ignoring me. Either was probable.
His checkered haori trailed behind him before disappearing around a corner.
"Damnit," I muttered to myself, brow furrowing as I hastily set down my bowl and dashed around the cart. The man who had made our food was already standing at the sound of the bowl shattering and I quickly requested, "Please watch Nezuko for a minute!"
He called after me in hurried questioning, but I dashed back towards the bench and swiped my sword up, wasting no time in my attempt to catch up to the boy.
Move faster I angrily told myself, darting as quick as my legs could take me and practically skidding around the corner and into the same alley as him. But once I reached the end, I was forced to stop. My headache came back for revenge, making me wince and place my palm on my forehead. I could only curse myself out mentally.
The crowd was strong, surging through the market. There was no way I'd catch up or even find him like this.
Focus. I just gotta focus.
I should know his aura like the back of my hand. It was warm and pure. Strong. I should be able to pick it up. I need to pick it up.
Closing my eyes, I forced a deep breath through my body. I forced my muscles to relax and forced my nerves to calm. Focus. Block everything else out. Find it, and lock on.
A long exhale left me as I sat with my eyes closed. My headache pounded but I pushed it aside. Every single aura within that crowd threatened my concentration, but I blocked them out. They shouldn't matter. Turn their auras off.
One last deep breath.
There.
My eyes flashed open and I dashed into the crowd. The voices surrounded me like water, but I kept my gaze straight on the ground where glowing, orange footprints lead onward. They were quick and spread apart, but I had locked onto them and all of my focus was purely on them. Every other aura that threatened to come into view had been cut off and for the first time in years, everyone around me was all just humans lacking an aura. Normal humans.
I pushed through the crowd, earning a few words of irritation but I ignored them and persevered. My sights were only on the footprints. Tanjiro was tracking something, and I was tracking him.
The closer I got, the stronger the aura on the footprints became, slowly shifting from his orange resting aura and into his current red, active aura.
And then, I spotted him. His back was to me, but I wasted not a second more in pushing towards him.
