A woman held a girl's hand as they walked through the busy streets.
They saw a group of children surrounding a small, whimpering puppy at a quiet part of the street, poking at it with brittle twigs and pulling its ears and tail.
"Hey, stop that!" The woman raised her voice slightly.
The children look at her immediately, the fear evident on their faces.
"Don't pick on that puppy," chided the woman, gently but firmly.
"And don't run away. I'm merely trying to tell you something."
The children looked at each other, hesitating before deciding to listen.
"You wouldn't like it if someone pulled at your ears and poked at you with sticks, would you?"
The children shook their heads quickly.
"If you don't, please don't inflict it onto others," the woman continued.
"The puppy is weaker than you are, but that doesn't mean you can bully it as you like. Instead, you must protect it. You must protect those who are weak."
The children nodded and ran away.
The girl patted the little puppy's head and let it lick her hand, memorising her mother's words silently.
----------
The girl held a small loaf of plain bread wrapped in white paper as she followed her father around at the market.
The father carried a sack of rice grain on his shoulder.
Out of the corner of her eye, the girl noticed a boy and a crying little girl, both wearing tattered, dirty clothing, following them at a distance.
She tugged on her father's sleeve to get his attention.
"Dad, there's someone following us."
The father turned around, only to see the underfed kids glancing at them uncertainly.
"Come here," he said, gesturing at the children.
Hesitantly, they approached and fiddled with their fingers.
"Here, this is for you," he said, removing an empty pouch from his belt and filling it with several handfuls of rice grain.
"You need this more than we do."
He took the boy's hand and placed the pouch on his palm.
The boy, apparently shocked, quickly mumbled his thanks.
Meanwhile, the daughter had turned to face the smaller girl.
"Come on, eat this," she said, breaking off part of the loaf and handing it to the younger child.
"Don't cry anymore, okay? Smile! You look more adorable that way. That's it!" She smiled as the girl wiped her tears away and giggled.
After the children had left, the father patted his daughter's head.
"Well done Y/N, you did what was right," he said.
"You're not mad at me?" She asked, knowing that the bread was precious to her family as it was quite hard to obtain even a plain white loaf.
"No, of course I'm not mad. You did the right thing. The poor children clearly needed food. You might've even saved them from another day of starvation. Your mother will be proud of you as well."
----------
A loud bang interrupted the girl's peaceful sleep.
The little girl sat upright in her bed, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
"Mom? Dad?" She called out.
The lack of response from her parents frustrated her.
She crawled out of her futon and left her room.
A figure tackled her small body and she screamed in fright.
"Y/N! Get out of here, quickly!"
"Mom! What happened? I heard - "
"No time to explain, run!"
"But where's Dad?"
The girl struggled and escaped her mother's grip, running in the direction where her mother came.
What she saw was something which would affect the rest of her life.
Her father's mangled body being eaten by a humanoid figure with horns and unnaturally sharp teeth.
"DAD!!"
The figure's head snapped upward and saw her.
"Oh, good, good. Nice. There are more." It smiled eerily.
Before the girl could react, it pounced at her, bloody fangs bared.
A split second later, its teeth sank into the mother's shoulder.
"MOM - !!"
The girl shoved at the creature's face, trying desperately to push it away.
Her mother's grip on her little body tightens, meaning to shield her daughter's body with hers.
"LET GO OF MY MOM!!"
The figure did let go, but only for a second.
It tore at the mother's nape, causing blood to spurt out of the gash.
The mother's grip loosened. "Run...Y/N. Please."
"NO! I'M NOT LEAVING YOU AND DAD!"
"Tch, you're so noisy," the figure sneered.
"And you're stupid not to run when - "
A dim flash of moonlight reflecting off smooth, shiny blades appeared behind the figure, followed by an ear-splitting crash.
"Breath of Sound, First Form - Roar!"
YOU ARE READING
【𝐌𝐘 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃 ; 亲爱的孩子】(KNY and child! fem! reader)
Hayran KurguKNY AND CHILD! FEM! READER Includes manga spoilers . KNY belongs to Koyoharu Gotouge . Y/N L/N, now known as Y/N Uzui after getting adopted by the Sound Pillar, Tengen Uzui. She intended to become a demon slayer just like her adoptive father and his...
