Drinking from the Fountain (Demon Slayer x Male Reader)

Ch. 11 - Order

I huff in exaustion as we stroll down the long winding road up the mountain, the road's been steep, treacherous, yet oddly boring. Yorokobi stays quiet ahead of me, trucking on at her usual brisk pace. Unusually quiet.

"We should turn around," she says while coming to a sudden stop.

I nearly run into her, coming to a sharp halt. I stare at the back of her head for a second, "What? What do you mean?"

I'm not even sure I heard her right. I open my mouth to speak again but she sighs. She takes a second before shrugging, "Just a horrible gut feeling. Something feels wrong. I shouldn't be so... I dunno, scared. But I am. It's not right. Why are we getting sent after a lower moon?"

"Well, it's our job. I guess, I just figured we'd at least try. We should do our best to kill the demon threat, we signed up for this."

She stays silent for a while, pondering the response for a long while. I assume she's lost confidence in the mission, what little she had to begin with anyway.

Admittedly, neither of us were very confident to begin with.

She stays how she is for another moment or two before crossing her arms, "I suppose that's true. But if we can't handle this, we get out, okay?" She asks, concern glazing her words.

I stare at the back of her for a moment, she's never this worried or protective. Something is deeply bothering her, I just don't know what.

I hum to agree with her and after another long moment we continue up the mountain.

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We come upon an even-leveled area and decide to set up our overnight camp here. The whole day after our discussion, if you can call it that, has been spent mostly in slilence. Contemplating both of our standpoints on the current situation.

According to Yorokobi, we're relatively close, it shouldn't be but another 2 or 3 hours up the trail. She plans for us to get rest all day tomorrow and head up there around sunset. Though she still seems put off by our current assignment.

I try to start up small talk, but to no avail. Still on edge and tired from our trek up, Yorokobi goes to bed early. I stay up for a while longer though, my thoughts getting the better of me and keeping me awake.

Most of them about the coming day. Assuring myself that we can win, that we can live.

We will live.

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I woke up to afternoon sunlight beaming onto my face. I sit up with a grunt of tiredness and look around while scratching my head. Yorokobi is sleeping soundly across the fire pit, facing toward the pit. I drop back down onto my makeshift bed with a deep sigh. What the hell are we gonna do? Realistically, we probably stand a very small chance of destroying the demon fighting together. Alone, we would be killed instantly.

I rub a hand over my face and roll over to my side, facing away from Yorokobi and into the deep woods around us. I just have to keep a level head. Keep calm. Stay rational. Work smart. Fight smart. Live.

I can only do my best.

After what must've been a few hours of resting my eyes and thinking, Yorokobi stirs awake and yawns, "Good morning L/n-kun, or- well- good evening?"

She rises from her bed with a huff and I turn to my other side to face her, "You sure sound chipper this evening," I say with a heavy sarcastic tone.

After a half-awake laugh, she looks down at me, "And you sound like you always do."