Cold as ice ||Demon Slayer x Child!Reader||

0.0.8

"T-thank..y-you" You shyly mumbled, taking your nichirin sword from the sword smith. For some reason, you were always so shy around the sword smiths. Was it because you couldn't see their faces, maybe because their eyes never blinked? Or maybe the fact that you broke the sword they worked so hard on. Maybe it was your guilt.

"Thank you." Giyuu said as Mitsuri pat your head in comfort. Both the Hashira's knew that you felt bad for breaking your sword, after all Sanemi told you to never break your blade. You didn't understand that Sanemi told you not to break it so that you would be safe, but you interpreted it as the poor sword smith would have their feelings hurt with your breaking their sword.

Never the less, it felt nostalgic to have your sword in your hands again. Good wasn't the right term, but comforting was. You inspected the blade almost like it was going to be your last time laying eyes on it.

You shyly waved as the sword smith left after his heavy compliments

"Thank you young Hashira for your hard work. We all appreciate your sacrifices."

What was that supposed to mean?

Sacrifices? What sacrifices?

"Nemi. Nemi." You called out as you ran over, seeing Sanemi walking through the garden of the Ubayashiki estate.

"Hey kid." Sanemi said, letting a smirk form on his lips as he hoisted you up, spinning around in a circle making you squeak out in surprise making him chuckle. "Whatcha got?"

You took your new sword out of your sheath and showed it to him proudly. "Oh, got a new sword? Very nice, sharp too." He commented. It somewhat saddened Sanemi that this is what you wanted to show him. Not a bug you found or some interesting rock or even a cute toy, but a weapon. It filled him with regret.

"Let's just put that crap away for now. Let's just walk, okay?" He said, gently taking the sword from you and placing it down. Sanemi picked you up before continuing his walk through the garden, pointing out small things to the girl like constellations in the sky, or a birds nest. He wouldn't admit it, but he did cherish moments like these with you.

3rd person POV

"Hey." Sanemi whispered, you sleeping soundly in his arms as all the hashira were gathered up, a candle illuminating the room. "We're ready to start, Oyakata-Sama." Shinobu said.

"Wonderful my children. I understand why you all are here. You don't need to say it." Oyakata sama spoke gently, knowing the little girl getting some very deserved rest in the room.

Muichiro stiffened, "This is serious, this is effecting her way too much." "Agreed." Shinobu spoke.

"I'm afraid of how this is impacting her." Gyomei sadly stated.

"She is getting hurt all the time and running into the most powerful demons. She needs to be kept hidden." Iguro spoke, "You should have seen how she looked when I found her after fighting upper moon four. Its haunting."

"And Im pissed off that she's not getting to be a kid. She has to act like a grown up, I don't want that for her!" Sanemi spoke up, tightening his grip on the sleeping girl.

"I understand my children, but what's most important is how she feels. This sad life of hers, it's only what she knows. She doesn't understand anything but this life we have provided for her. Suddenly taking this away from her could make her feel excluded, like she did something wrong.  This is a little girl we're talking about, for all we know, she may even believe being a demon slayer is the only way to be with you all. Anything is possible with a child's imagination."

Silence engulfed the room, the hashira watching your sleeping form with eyes filled with sorrow. "..I.. didn't think of that." Mitsuri said to herself. None of the hashira thought of that.

—

You were back on your first mission since recovering, and it seemed easy too. You guessed it was because your body was so well rested after not receiving any missions for a while.

Your reflexes kicked in when you heart a rustle in the trees. You grabbed onto a few rocks, sharply shooting them into the branches. 

"T-Tengen?" You asked, confused why he was hiding in a tree. "Jeez kid, you almost knocked my brains out." He said, hopping down from the tree and tossing the leaves out of his hair. 

"I...thought you b-bad." You said, twirling your fingers and looking down in shame. "Your almost at your mission, right? Well, I finished up mine, mind if I tag along?" He said as he pat your head. "M'kay." So, your hand in his, you both walked to the village that you were called to.

After a few hours, you made it to the small village, a older woman comes rushing out, noticing People with blades. "Please help us! Every morning we find corpses outside homes, its terrible. We are begging you.. please help this village."

"S-show...please?" You asked, tugging on the womans Haori. "Show what exactly, little girl?" "The b-bodies." You answered, making her eyes widen. "Uhm...I think it's too scary for you, sweetie. I can escort you to the head of the village in the meantime, I'm sure it would be no problem to whip up some tea and treats. I think your...friend...? Yes, friend should take a look instead." The old woman suggested, making eye contact with Uzui nervously. "I'm just tagging along here. This flamboyant youngster is going to help out." Uzui said, patting your head as you leaned into his touch. You never really experienced comfort or positive physical contact, but after meeting the Hashira's, a day didn't go by without getting love and affection. It was a little odd to you, but that didn't mean you didn't like it, you truly craved it.

"A-alright then. I'll show you the most recent victim. Its right down here." The lady said, motioning the two of you to follow her. Once you arrived at the scene, your breath hitched, but so silently that the woman couldn't hear, but Tengen did. 

Images of your fathers mauled corps flashed through your mind, corrupting your vision. Uzui understood what was going on, how you couldn't look at bloody corpses like this without thinking of your late father who haunted your memories, and he knew that you knew this too. He knew that you knew that if you saw this body, it wouldn't be easy for you, but it was crucial to see to search for the demon. You were truly selfless. 

He rubbed your head, "So, what do you think Y/N." Somehow, his words and head pats dragged you back into reality.

"It will be back tonight." You mumbled out. "Oh, but could you take care of it before dark? tonight is our annual festival. We can't reschedule it or cancel it. We've had this festival through snow, rain, and thunder... we can't just stop the festival for something like this." The lady requested.

To this, you were at a loss for words. Nobody ever in you line of work asked you to 'hurry up' or 'get it done quickly', but this lady basically did just that. You were very confused. You being just a little kid, you haven't truly understanded yet how there are just selfish people in the world who could demand something like that.

"That's not how it works." Tengen said, stepping in at noticing your obvious confusion. "It's much easier to find the demon while its dark. In fact, it could be entirely possible that its completely impossible to find the demon before it becomes nighttime. The demon could have simply left and, in that case, will most likely come back during dark." Tengen tried explaining, but it was pointless as the egocentric lady already made up her mind to have the job done before dark as she was already walking away.

"Well, this is what I need from you, so it should happen because we aren't postponing our festival! If you decide to wait till dark and people die during the festival, the blame is on you!" The lady yelled, storming off.