Tanjiro walked outside with the sun glaring down at him, his sister lying soundly asleep in the box on his back. He had just finished yet another mission, killing a demon that gave up on protecting its life. It did not want to live anymore and did not fight back when Tanjiro un-sheated his Katana.
Finally. It was finally time to meet the person he had been unable to meet for more than two years. To be separated from his best friend Y/n was hard for him, and he clearly knew it was hard for them too. Y/n never spoke of their sadness to have him so far away, but he could always tell from the way they wrote the letters.
"Caw! Caw!"
He looked up at the cloud-free sky with his dark red eyes once he heard his crow, Matsuemon, caw, and saw him fly in circles above him before flying down and settling himself on Tanjiro's outstretched arm.
"Caw! There was no one home! There was no one home! Caw!" Matsuemon caws out, his wings flapping to further get his point across to his owner. He had proudly done his mission with full seriousness and care while his owner worked, but he still came back with bad news.
Tanjiro had asked his crow to fly and see if Y/n was home, so he could give them a surprise visit, but to no avail. There was no one home.
"Huh? No one home..?" Tanjiro whispered to himself with a frown, his left hand squeezing around the white strap of his box while he glanced down at Matsuemon.
The information was weird for Tanjiro. Y/n was always home, they never left their abode, claiming that their home was the safest place and everything they needed was there. In some kind of way, it always felt pleasing to know that they would always be in the same place since that would prevent them from getting lost in the massive woods surrounding the village.
"Do you know where they went?" Tanjiro asked after a minute of silence, his lips pinched into a thin line on his lower face.
"Caw! No! Caw!"
"Okay, thank you for the message," Tanjiro said, a little sad, but then he smiled at Matsuemon as he flew his way up in the sky yet again, flying to God knows where.
When Tanjiro started walking again, he began to think deeply.
"I wonder what happened... I hope they're fine, and that they didn't get hurt.
I miss them, I wanna see their smile and hear their laughter again. Oh! And their stories, as we did in the past, I listened to the fantastic stories told by Y/n as they were the one who told them to me. They could rival my mother with those stories of theirs.
We would sometimes sit in the forest near a river with our feet dipped in the water as we held hands, but it wasn't many times that we could be alone because my siblings would join us. They all really loved Y/n. Just as I did.
I'm finally coming home, please just wait a little more, Y/n. Please."
Tanjiro walked in silence while his mind was creating a storm. His thoughts were all over the place and he could barely focus on one of them. His body was in auto-mode and took him to where he wanted while he was beyond attention for the real world.
Tanjiro wanted to meet Y/n's family and buy them a small gift as an apology for being gone for so long. Y/n and Tanjiro's families have always had a good relationship. Y/n's family showed compassion when his family members died and he was grateful. Tanjiro tried his best to support them back but it wasn't easy as he was not in the village anymore.
When Tanjiro comes to again, he sees that he's in his childhood village. He had unconsciously walked here, his desire to meet Y/n stronger than he imagined. All the nostalgia from his childhood memories hit him hard in the face which made him want to cry from all the mixed feelings returning to him.
