Inosuke x Reader

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✨emotional damage✨
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"Inosuke!" I yelled into the emptiness of the trees. Panic gripped my senses at the lack of response. He had been right behind me, how could I lose him? I retracted my sword from its sheath as goosebumps appeared along my arms at the eeriness of the night.

"Inosuke, please!" My screaming started to turn frantic as my terror settled in deeper. That stupid, boar-headed freak acted like he was invincible for so long but what if something finally did him in? My breathing quickened as I ran along the path, going deeper into the forest and quite possibly danger as well. I needed to find him soon if something had gotten to him.

My legs pumped harder as my eyes scanned the rushing scenery around me. He would be pretty easy to spot, right? Just look for some huge, dumb lump somewhere. What if he wasn't even here? What if he had gotten lost and turned around to find me? There was always a chance that nothing had gotten to him and I was too far away for him to hear me. A nervous smile made my lips twitch with desperate hope. There could be a simple explanation that I've overlooked with my overthinking.

On my next hurried step though my foot snagged on something fleshy. My heartbeat spiked as I tripped over what appeared to be an unattached arm. A scream built up in my throat till I noticed the matching torso dragging itself on the dirt path. The sight was disgusting in all ways but considering it was a demon, I didn't feel remorse for it.

It was clearly dying very slowly and had been dragging itself for a while with a red trail smeared behind it and going past the tree line. A spark of hope lit up inside me that someone had passed by not too long ago to kill this thing. I took my sword to put the poor beast out of its misery, my attention flicking to the trail of red it left for me to follow. If I could find the end of the blood splatters then that means whoever had tried to kill it would be close by. Maybe they saw Inosuke run past, it could even be Inosuke himself.

With an extra pep in my step, I sprinted to follow the trail going into the forest shrubbery. The blood was fairly easy to spot, both by the stench and the tainted moonlit, crimson reflections. The demon had actually crawled fairly far by the looks of it but the bloody line was finally beginning to thin out. My eyes caught on slash marks in the surrounding trees signaling a clash of some sort. By the jagged lines, I was reassured that Inosuke was here.

I slowed my fast pace to listen for any sounds coming from nearby. The silence was deafening and right as I was beginning to lose faith there was a rustle from nearby. Excitement flooded my body as I ran towards the sound in glee, hoping that Inosuke was just napping after kicking some demon ass. That hope instantly died out as I spotted what lay behind the shrubbery.

"Oh god." He was almost unrecognizable but there was no mistaking the boar head that lay shredded by his side. Bile bubbled up my throat but I fought against it as I collapsed onto my knees. My hands trembled violently as I reached out towards the bloody heap, pathetically trying to prod at the body. It couldn't be him. He was right behind me. The demon was dying.

"No," I whispered, the sound small and meek. Panic once again seeped past my skin and right to my very core at the sight of Inosuke mauled and drowning in his own blood. "No, no...nononono! NO! Goddamnit, Inosuke, wake up right NOW!" my voice screamed out. His body didn't move as I desperately shook him. There was no breathing coming from him. A dark knot tangled in my stomach and this time I let myself heave to the side at the sight of his corpse. Tears pooled down my face, mixing with sweat and bile and pure anguish.

"Inosuke, please just stop it! Stop it. Please," I cried out. And I cried. And I cried. And I cried. The tears didn't stop flowing and my mind felt frozen in despair, trying to correlate the constant ball of energy with this lifeless husk. The demon had torn him up in too many places too quickly.

Another round of sobs wracked my lungs as I pulled his body to my chest. Blood smeared across my uniform and hands but I couldn't find the energy to care. I cradled his head in my lap, my tears sliding off my face to drip onto his.

"I'm so sorry. Oh god, I'm so sorry," I muttered through my sobs. I rocked back and forth with him like a mother with her child, as if I was putting him to sleep. Through my blurry vision I traced his pale face gently, from his once captivating green eyes to his small, tranquil mouth. I hated that he looked at peace, that he looked like he was alright with leaving me behind like this. So many different emotions surged through me, the anger, guilt and anguish being too much to bear.

"I didn't even get to say goodbye, Ino." The thought ruined me. This moment would forever haunt me. The time I left him behind to die, the time I never got to tell him everything I wished I could. The time I let him die by himself, all alone.

I didn't move from my position for the rest of the night. My voice was hoarse from mumbling 'I'm sorrys' and 'goodbyes' all night long, my arms aching from holding him till sunrise. I didn't want to leave him alone during the night. I wanted to make sure I was there with him for the first rays of the sun.

I turned my broken stare to the light washing over the horizon and onto my skin. The thought that Inosuke would never see another sunrise, never feel warmth plagued my mind. I had no more tears left but was sure I would've cried if I could. I continued not to move. I couldn't bring myself to leave him behind. I glanced down at his resting face like he would wake up to tell me what to do.

"Inosuke, what am I supposed to do without you?" He didn't reply but he didn't need to. The answer was a hard truth I've already admitted to myself. Nothing. Without Inosuke, without my rock, my friend, my purpose, I was supposed to do nothing. Because there was nothing left for me anymore in a world where happiness didn't exist.

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