boketto || t. kamado

fifty-two

A/N: i've got like, 30 chaps of a Todoroki/reader written. it's similar style to this where it just follows the anime. any interest?

I'd managed to go on a mission and come back before Tanjiro had returned. At first, I could only imagine what kind of mission it was. But I didn't really have to, seeing as it took just a few days before he'd sent me another letter.

Each time I saw his crow in the distance or heard it pecking at my window, my heart lept into my throat and I scrambled to retrieve the letter, greedily reading each word he'd written. It all felt so simple and domestic - like we were separated by war and this was our only form of communication.

...I suppose that statement is less of a metaphor and more of the truth. But still, my new favorite pastime was to read or reread his letters when my book had gotten boring. I kept each one, compiled in a small stack and tied with string. His letters were always so much longer than the ones I sent him and it amazed me at how much he thought about my simple words or how things would remind him of me. He even said that he saw a book I might enjoy. Something about philosophy that he admitted he didn't understand, but thought I might find enjoyable.

I felt myself even having to pause while reading the pages or rolling until I was face down in my bed. Anyway to hide me from the world as if my thoughts were visible to the entire everyone. It sort of felt like they were, based on the heat that invaded my face. Maybe I should get a book on this sort of stuff instead - but then again, Mother used to say that stuff was always so fantasized and unrealistic.

Like a mantra each night, I chanted in my mind 'Don't act different. Treat him the same.' Over and over as if it was the only words I knew. It was so annoying, frankly. How Daichi putting a simple name to an emotion could make everything feel 10 times worse.

I'd made up my mind, anyway. We're both demon slayers and neither of us planned on stopping until our goal was met. There's no point in even attempting something until demons are eradicated or Nezuko's human - seen as that was his primary goal.

So everything will be the same and nothing will be different. Tanjiro is my best friend and I can't risk anything happening to him. I somewhat feared going back to the same state I was in before the Final Selection.

Inosuke was the one who let me know when the warm boy was arriving, shouting down the halls in annoying cheers with Zenitsu chasing him to try and quiet him down. But the information was out and I was on my feet quickly as can be.

I could hear the noise down the hall already. The girls were always excited when we returned, no matter how many days we were gone. It seemed to grow in anticipation with each day and since he'd been gone for quite a bit, it made sense that they were ecstatic to see him.

I paused in the doorway of our room. I swallowed thick, clenching and unclenching my fists and jaw for a second before exhaling. Everything will be the same and nothing will be different.

As if an outside force had to push me, I finally stepped down the hall and padded through the Butterfly Mansion. Towards the sound and bustle until Aoi came into view, keeping her distance with a gentle smile and words of making dinner already. I came to her side rather than crowd him, inhaling deeply before turning to cast my gaze his way.

He was relatively okay - there was a single bandage on his cheek, but completely unscathed otherwise. The familiar wooden box still sat on his back and his earrings dangled from his auburn hair. Garnet eyes matched his smile as Naho, Sumi, and Kiyo took turns telling him random things that had occurred or asking him questions. Inosuke would yell something every once in a while as well as if a toddler himself before earning a chastising complaint from Zenitsu. A warm sight, truly.