Sanctuary | Tanjiro Kamado x Reader

12.

"Tanjiro?" you question, your voice breaking. "What are you doing out of bed this early?"

Tanjiro furrowed his brows, "I smelled a great amount of fear coming from here and thought I'd check it out. Are you ok? Have you.. been crying?"

A sad smile creeps across your lips, "I'm fine." you say as you lower your head.

Tanjiro looks more concerned but drops it. "O-okay.." he stutters. "Would you like me to stay with you?"

You raise your head, shaking it. "I feel like this has more to do with you than me. What's going on?"

Tanjiro looks like a deer in headlights but lowers his head. "I really was concerned, but you're right. I.. I had another nightmare about Mr. Rengoku.." the boy admits.

You soften your eyes, pulling him in. "Well then, of course you can stay." you whisper.

In truth, you thought having Tanjiro there with you might help you get some sleep as well. Even though he could barely see your puffy eyes due to the dark of the night, he smelled your fear and sadness and felt your dampened cheek graze across his as you pulled him into you.

"Thank you." he said, resting his head on your shoulder.

You let Tanjiro rest his head on your shoulder for a moment before guiding him into your room. You lay him down and tuck him in before getting in behind him, spooning him from behind.

You hug Tanjiro snuggly as you bury your head in the crook of his neck. As you lay there trying to fall asleep, you notice Tanjiro is already fast asleep, but his breathing is getting concerning.

"Tanjiro?" you whisper, tapping him.

The boy doesn't respond, but instead becomes restless in his sleep. He starts to sweat and grit his teeth before wiggling his body.

"Tanjiro, what's wrong?!" you sit up and start to shake him.

The boy doesn't respond before mumbling something. "You'll never win. The demon slayer corps is always going to prevail. You fight in the dark where you have the advantage! Come back here, you bastard." his angry mumbled started coming out as breathy whispers before tears welled in his eyes.

"Tanjiro!" you tried shaking him again. Still, no answer.

Tears started pouring at this point as his breathy whispers turned into screams.

"NO, RENGOKU! DON'T GO, YOU CAN MAKE IT!" Tanjiro yelled.

Concerned, you get out of bed and rush to his side.

"Tanjiro!" you watched in horror as he thrashed around in your bed.

You heard quick footsteps reach your door in no time, opening the door quickly and rushing to your side in time to hear Tanjiro's final scream.

"NOOOO, RENGOKU!" he yelled before you heard a slap.

It happened so fast, you don't know what happened. Hell, you still don't know who entered your room just now either.

You fumbled, trying to find a match in the darkness of your room to light a small candle. Finally, you found it! You quickly lit the candle and sat it down. You were now able to see a sleeping Zenitsu with his hand raised in the air along with Tanjiro, eyes wide open, with a red hand mark on his face.

"Z-Zenitsu?" you stutter.

"Tanjiro, how could you be so inconsiderate and scare (Y/n) with your night terrors?" Zenitsu scolds.

"I-I know.. I just.." Tanjiro stuttered.

"Zenitsu, I'm alright. I told him he could stay. Thank you for calming him though. I'm sorry to bother you." you admit.

"Be careful, he can get dangerous when he has these nightmares." Zenitsu enlightens you.

You nod, "Thank you for letting me know. I'm sorry again for having disturbed your sleep." you thank him.

"You didn't do anything. I have really good hearing. I could hear his breathing from here before he started yelling." Zenitsu mentions.

You're amazed, "That's so cool, Zenitsu. We'll definitely have to talk about it in the morning." you cheer.

Zenitsu nods, disappearing with lightning speed.

You go over and close your door before coming back to Tanjiro's side. The boy was too embarrassed to speak as he hadn't moved a muscle since waking up.

"Tanjiro?" you touch his red cheek, Zenitsu's handprint still present on it.

Tanjiro doesn't say anything, instead his breathing starts to quicken.

"You don't have to be ashamed. You can't help what happened." you coo.

Tanjiro still hasn't moved a muscle, but you noticed tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes. You hug him, moving him intentionally in order to get him to say something.

"We can talk about it if you'd like." you comfort him.

This caused him to break, tears dropping from his face onto yours as snot trailed down his face. "The nightmares.." he started, "They get so bad. Every time, it's the same thing: Me yelling at the demon that killed Mr. Rengoku, but when I turn around, he's burning to ash as his blood spills everywhere." finally finishing, all Tanjiro could do was cry in your arms before you layed his head on your lap and patted his head until he fell asleep.

Giving up on the thought of sleep for the night, you start to think of ways to help Tanjiro overcome his trauma. To no one's surprise, you couldn't come up with a single thing by morning given the time period you live in. Mental health isn't even taboo, it's just not something people think about. So unfortunately, you had to strategize on your own with no solutions to found or advice to be given.

You pause, the sleepy gears of your mind starting to turn as you hear it:

"Good morning."