The little brother of demons

Chapter 2

When Tanjiro woke up, Akaza was still next to him. "Hey there sleepyhead" Akaza said to him teasingly, Tanjiro looked scared at first but then he remembered what happened last night and relaxed a bit. "Daki and Kokushibo are currently running a bath for you and while they do that, do you think you could tell me what happened to you?" Akaza asked him, Tanjiro hesitated for a moment and started trembling again "I-I'm sorry, t-they said they needed help b-but t-they didn't a-and t-they..." He managed to stutter out, new tears forming in his eyes. Akaza immediately took action and wrapped his arms around Tanjiro in a hug, Tanjiro tensed up at first but then accepted the hug and cried into the uppermoons shoulder. "It's OK Tanjiro, whatever those people did to you is not your fault and I promise you that we will protect you from them." Akaza said to calm the boy down and luckily it worked. Just then Daki came down to lead Tanjiro to the bathroom as the bath was now run. Tanjiro separated from Akaza and followed Daki upstairs, there he found Kokushibo waiting next to a bathtub that was filled with warm water. Daki left the two alone and Kokushibo helped Tanjiro out of his shirt as his hands were still trembling too much (don't worry Kokushibo kept his eyes up as to not make Tanjiro uncomfortable), he then left to go prepare the guest room.

Trying not to stumble Tanjiro carefully stepped into the bath, sighing when he felt the warm water hit his still cold skin. As Tanjiro lay in the water he gently traced over his injuries, he felt pain blossom every time he touched one of them but he kept feeling those peoples hands all over him, how they used him, how they hurt him and he just desperately wanted to get rid of those memories but he couldn't, not when they were etched into his skin in the forms of cuts and bruises. Tanjiro put his hand on his mouth to muffle the sob that came and he cursed himself for being such a crybaby.

After a couple more minutes, Guyutaro knocked on the door to the bathroom to check up on Tanjiro. "Hey kid, just coming to see how you're doing, you've been in that bath a while now and I was getting a bit worried." The uppermoon said, when he didn't hear Tanjiro reply he got even more worried until a splashing sound from the bathroom told him that he was getting out. After a few more seconds, Tanjiro opened the door with a towel tied around his waist, Guyutaro could tell that Tanjiro had been crying again from his even redder eyes and the way he was sniffling. Guyutaro then told Tanjiro where the guest room was and said that he could come back downstairs if he feels like it, Tanjiro nodded his thanks and went in the direction of the guest room. When he went inside the room he was greeted by a comfy looking bed that had some night clothes laying on it. Tanjiro got into the warm clothes and went to bed, not wanting to trouble the demons anymore tonight then he has already done. After an hour Douma came into the room to see how Tanjiro was doing and saw him sleeping peacefully. Douma smiled and brushed a strand of hair out of the younger boys face before closing the door and going back down stairs.