!Now available on ao3! Same name, same author!
boketto (Japanese)
- the act of gazing vacantly into the distance without thinking.
*~-~*
In which young Y/n is shown there's more to life than fulfilling a duty.
And a young Tanjiro learns that first...
Did I use this GIF already? I don't care, I'll keep using it, it's my favorite.
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Don't walk in front of me... I may not follow Don't walk behind me... I may not lead Walk beside me... just be my friend
Albert Camus
When the child demon was gone, her domain was taken as well. Oya and I fell just a few feet but landed back inside the cave - admittedly, I probably should've tried to catch the boy. But we were both alright and I checked on him.
I considered my mission to still be unfinished, however, as I took Oya on my back again and began carrying him back to the village. Various wounds - bruises, cuts, and more severe outcomes - ached with each step but I didn't let it phase me and pushed onward. Notably, my left leg felt several times worse now than it did in the aftermath of the arrow demon, but I also took a direct hit to it. I probably worsened the wound drastically.
The sun was beginning to brighten as it lowered in the sky by the time we got back. Oya had fallen asleep on my back but I didn't mind as I reached the edge of the forest and appeared back in view of the village.
Some of the previous onlookers had dispersed and gone home, but a decent portion of them was surprisingly still there. The first one to spot me announced it loudly to the others and I gained several pairs of eyes on me all at once. They cheered and whispered as I tried to hide my limp and came toward them. Questions of if I got the demon and if they were safe came tumbling from them but some other members shushed them.
There was a sudden yell before Nakatomi Suzu - Oya's mother - came bursting from the crowd and tumbling over her feet, tears already streaming down her face as she rushed towards me. Or, Oya, rather. I was more than willing to hand him into her arms as she came up and she took him with glee, waking him from his nap as she brought him tightly to her chest and sobbed in relief.
I was glad to reunite the little family and the village was safe now as well. Now, I considered my mission to be done.
"It's gone now, right?" A young girl, though probably close to my age asked with one of the small boys from before hiding beneath her leg. Siblings, maybe. What a good big sister.
"Yes," I reassured and bowed my head, "I took of care of everything. Your village is safe."
Their eyes lit up with relief and the village buzzed at my words. I wasn't really used to such a reaction for my work - I mean, most of the time I was saying it to a single person and telling them they lost their loved one. But this village had been seldom attacked, just tormented over a long period of time.
A rush of grateful words and thanks came washing over me at the sound of my accomplishment. The rest of the day became a weird blur.
I planned to move on after that and either meet back up with Tanjiro or go on my next mission to wherever Ocha sent me, but the townspeople were scarily persistent about trying to repay me in some way. I tried to reassure them that I was properly compensated by The Demon Slayer Corp but they insisted that I had broken their curse and wanted to give me something back. Even Oya asked if I would at least see the doctor.
