𝐀 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 [𝘈 𝘒𝘕𝘠 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯]

Chapter 6

A/N   Sorry for the late updates, I just had a lot on my plate. I did a bit of research for this part. Hope you enjoy this chapter!!

Trigger warning: blood (honestly almost every chapter has it so if you're triggered by blood perhaps don't read this story)

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     Waiting for Saburo to arrive was slow and slightly agonizing seeing as Hanako had to keep her hand steady. Now that she had seen her missing finger, she felt the searing pain in her hand more intensely. Humming a small tune her mother had taught her, Hanako tried to focus on the rest of her surroundings. She had only ever been inside of old man Saburo's house once and it was a short visit to deliver coal with Nezuko. It was a two room house made of a dark colored wood with cupboards and drawers lining the walls. A stack of fluffy animal pelts were nestled in the corner of the bedroom (where she was at the moment) and she noticed one of them lying in a heap on the floor next to the bed. It must have fallen off of her when she had woken up so abruptly. Suddenly, she felt a steady drip on her foot indicating two things: 1) She wasn't wearing any shoes,which meant the boots she had received from Tanjiro were gone. 2) Her wound must have opened up again when she had removed the gauze from her hand.  Perhaps she had rubbed the scab that had formed over the wound causing it to come off.

     Sighing, she attempted to cup her left hand under her right to catch the blood drops. She couldn't search around Saburo's house for his gauze,because she didn't trust herself to keep her hand steady. The warm flow of blood over her hand was sort of calming as she could focus on the sensation of blood more so than the pain she felt in her hand. Hanako found herself focusing on the dripping of her blood which were coming in even bursts, with the steady dripping of blood coming from her right hand where her middle finger used to be. Letting the blood slowly settle itself on her right hand, she noticed a small pool of it forming in her palm. She couldn't remember how long Saburo had been gone as she was losing track of time.  The loud bang of the door being pushed against the wall by an overexcited Saburo woke Hanako up from her calm state. 

     "I've got it!" he yelled, clearly caught up in his own excitement, but wheezing slightly, having had to move up and down the mountain. "Mrs. Takahashi did have a disinfectant."

     "I'll thank her next time I visit the village,"thought Hanako as she took the slightly yellow tinted glass bottle from Saburo's hand. Twisting the metal lid off the bottle with her teeth she poured the translucent liquid onto her wound with her shaking left hand, feeling it burn. She held her hand out for the roll of gauze, but Saburo started wrapping her hand himself. Although the wrapping job was shoddy, she appreciated his kind gesture and muttered a small "thanks" in response causing the corners of Saburo's mouth to twitch up. 

     Examining her hand, Hanako stretched her fingers to make sure that no other nerves had been severed that could affect her hands movement. She continued to repeatedly flex her fingers before balling them into a fist and she felt her hands get a fuzzy, but prickly feeling, like pins and needles. She wanted it to go away. It was painful and itching and weird and she didn't like it. Curling her fingers into an even tighter fist, she dug her nails into the palm of her hand, but it wouldn't go away. She felt herself getting angrier and more distressed by the second and she couldn't control it. Tears sprung to her eyes as she felt the pain of her nails becoming more and more harsh.

     Saburo watched as Hanako's face started to contort with anger and fear and part of him thought that it was the loss of a finger that was finally hitting her mentally. He noticed that her knuckles had become white and that she held her fist with a determined tightness. He began to assume that since she no longer had something to focus on, her mind was going back to her family. Unsure of how he ended up in this situation, he found himself drifting and reminiscing about old family memories.