A Carnations Regret |KNY x Reader|

|Chapter Ten, Doubtful Echinacea|

"Alright you two stay out here, watch over this box, alright?" Tanjiro asked, placing his hand on the siblings' shoulder. The boy and girl nodded, stepping on either side of the wooden box that Nezuko was sleeping inside.

"I'm going in," I said, brushing all my animal companions off except for Hoshi. I sat my cane down beside Nezuko's box, getting a concerned look from Tanjiro.

"If you'll wait a second, we'll both come inside with you," he said.

   Did he think I was weak? Was this why he wanted to go on solo missions? Because I was slowing him down? I pursed my lips, wondering why I was so obsessed with what he thought. Didn't I want a solo mission?

"I'll be fine, darling," I said. "I won't slow you down if I'm ahead." I opened the doors, hearing Zenitsu crying about me calling Tanjiro "darling".

   Was that too passive aggressive? I closed the door and screamed into my hands. I hated worrying about other people, it gave me a headache.

Hoshi purred, pushing her head against my cheek. Right, I had a mission. I pet her as I wandered down the hall, entering the first door I found, only to find another hallway. I opened the door at the end of that hallway and stepped inside what looked like a bedroom, tossed about sheets and claw marks over the walls.

"This place is disgusting..." I muttered, stepping over discarded cans and clothes. Looked like people had broken in and made a home out of this place.

   But I didn't see anything recent. All the cans looked moldy, and the food was shriveled up and picked apart by flies.

I kicked some trash out of my way, and Hoshi hissed. I looked around, drawing my sword. "Lead the way, Hoshi," I said, helping Hoshi off my arm. She jumped off, running out of the room.

   Not expecting her to run so quickly out of the room, I stumbled as I tried to chase after her. Just as I was about to exit the room, the sound of a drum rang through my ears, and I was no longer in the same room.

"Hoshi!" I screamed, looking around frantically.

   Demons didn't typically eat animals unless they were desperate, but what if the demons in this house hadn't eaten in a few months. Hoshi would be a little snack for them. I slammed open every single door I came by, yelling for her. How big was this house?

I threw open a sliding door, before I felt the room shift. My stomach churned as the floor I was standing on became the wall, and I collided with a dresser. My legs got caught on a claw mark, pulling at what felt like every joint that made them up. I pulled myself up, looking around.

Every door I opened added to the gnawing pit consuming my stomach. I tried to calm myself, but after not finding a single sign of life, I began frantically throwing doors open and kicking down the few locked ones. I couldn't care who lived here or who owned this place, I was going to find my cat.

It wasn't that Hoshi detected demons for me, nor was it that she was a beautiful cat that always had a way of calming me down; it was the fact that she had been the only thing to remain by my side. She never left me, never got stolen from me, never kicked me out, never threw me out in the road like trash, she had always been there for me and I for her.

I was ready to destroy the demon that hurt Cammie--but I was prepared to burn down the world if Hoshi was hurt.

"Y/n!" I heard Tanjiro faintly scream. I followed his voice as fast as I could. We needed to regroup and stay together until we defeated the demon that controlled the mansion. After the demon died, I could search for Hoshi without the worry of switching rooms.

"Tanjiro!" I yelled, turning down a hall sharply. I collided with the wall (which was previously flooring), but I just kept running to his voice. My leg was hanging behind me, not prepared for all the movement this mission would take. I slammed open a door, colliding head first with Tanjiro.

I stumbled backwards, my head throbbing from the impact. How hard was this guy's head? I fell back, and Tanjiro hurriedly pulled me to my feet.

"Are you okay? Hoshi just came running up to me, I thought you got hurt!" He exclaimed as I steadied myself on my feet. I didn't have a chance to look around before Hoshi clawed up my leg, holding my shoulder tightly. I hugged her tightly, sighing. Thank God. She was safe.

"What's the kid doing here?" I asked, referencing the little girl who stood behind Tanjiro. It was the sister from earlier, who I had thought Tanjiro was going to tell to wait outside.

"They got scared of the box, " he said. "Then we got separated from Zenitsu and the boy, the demon can—"

"Switch rooms. That's how me and Hoshi got separated." He nodded and I sighed. This was nothing but a big headache. "What's the game plan?" Tanjiro thought for a moment.

"We should split up." I was praying he had a plausible excuse, else I would have to believe that he really did want to avoid me and get me out of his way. "I smell a few different demons, if we split up, we can kill them quicker."

"Oh, okay. Phew..." I sighed. "Alright then, I'll see you outside." I started to walk off when Tanjiro hesitantly called out to me.

"Uh, Y/n! Hold on," he said. I looked back at him and he smiled. "Please be careful." I nodded, walking down the hall as my mind tried to comprehend what he just said to me. Just a day ago, he said I was strong, and now he was wanting me to be careful? How weak did he really think I was?

I groaned, throwing open a door, and Hoshi hissed. I was met with a demon, crouched over a corpse, her hands buried inside his chest as she squeezed his muscle to mush. The squelching of organs and wet meat being squeezed made my face scrunch up in instictal disgust.

"So pretty," she sang. She raised her fingers to her lips, licking them clean of all the blood. "So shiny and red," as she spoke, her head snapped up to me, "don't you think?" I stared into her vacant black eyes, drawing my sword.

"Not really," I said, lowering myself as I prepared to lunge with my good foot.

Short--short--long...—

Before I could finish repeating the breathing from yesterday, the demon jumped at me, readying her claws. I swung my sword, a blinding flash of orange and red hues following the blade.

My blade cut through her arm like scissors through Echinacea stems, but she wasn't fazed. Her other hand collided with my arm, claws sinking into my arm.

   Her claws pulled and tore, scraped and mixed, all through my forearm. I grunted, slamming my blade against her neck.

She jumped back just as I was about to sever her neck. A snap of her fingers, my head abruptly started to spin. I pressed my palm to my temple, looking at the blurry demon.

   My eyes trailed down to my arm, where a heavy stream of blood was flowing into the demon's palm. She licked her red-stained fingers, giggling.

"What the...?" I muttered, stumbling forward. If this kept going for too long, I'd die of blood loss; that wasn't going to happen.

   I held my sword in my unharmed arm, pulling it far behind my back. I took a long breath, a short breath, and a long breath, before throwing my sword. Aki would kill me if she ever saw me throw a sword.

The demon yelped, ducking as the sword just barely missed her head. I rushed forward, grabbing the sword and swinging it back just as the demon stood.

   Her head rolled off her shoulders, dropping to the ground. The world was still blurry, and my head felt as light as a feather. I tried to take a step, but it felt like my shoes were made of concrete.

"Y/n!" I heard someone scream. I looked up, finding Zenitsu running towards me, the boy at his side. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me towards his shoulder. "C'mon, let's get you out of here," Zenitsu said. I would've swooned over the romantic action had he not screamed his words right in my ear.

Zenitsu held me up with his shoulder, practically dragging me down the hall as the boy asked him to slow down. We entered a room, and the familiar gut-wrenching feeling took over my stomach. The room shifted, a pair of doors opened, and we fell out of the house.