My Brightest Flame (Rengoku X Reader)

Chapter 34 - Snow

A/N: Thank you for 100 votes! The fact that there's support for this book makes me so happy, hopefully I can hope making chapters that you guys enjoy c:

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The morning was dark, the sun yet to come up. Together they had all moved to another home, in a mountain in the snow. It was night and Rei and Reiko were very obviously exhausted. They were human and so it was to be expected.

"You two can go to sleep, get some rest. Me and y/n will handle the rest." With a loving smile, Rei carried their daughter into the new home. It was a wood cabin, expensive and extremely well looked after. It was impressive to look at, but when you lived on the planet for as long as she presumed Muzan had, money didn't mean anything. If it did, then he could have stolen money as another person and no one would have ever known. As they moved the objects that the mother has wanted to keep, the slightest wind was the only thing that broke the silence. Thankfully it really wasn't much, as they seemed to not need anything too extra. Only the basics. Everything had been settled and put into place by the time the sun threatened to rise, and both y/n and the first demon had found themselves comfortable spots away from the light for the day.

Muzan was the first to walk off, going through a door that he had prioritised from the beginning. It would be his office and it brought on curiosity as y/n saw the large amount of science equipment that rested on the tables, waiting to be set up. As interesting as it seemed, she chose to find her own spot with no windows and decided to eat some fresh humans they had brought along the way. The packing and travel were so exhausting that the home remained quiet for the whole day, until the sun began to set.

Screaming was what brought y/n out of her dark space, now sure that the sunlight was gone. She followed the sound to see that Reiko had hurt herself, her finger bleeding. The demon stared in silence as the girl's mother treated the wound, cleaning it and giving it a bandage. They had been cooking and Reiko had gotten ambitious with help...Y/N tried to resist the smell of blood, knowing fully well that she could eat later if she wanted to. It had been a month since they had moved, and overall the experience was equally as dull for y/n as it was before. Her memories were no closer to giving the information that Muzan had wanted. Although they were surrounded by snow, the nights becoming longer was what gave away the fact that the seasons were changing to autumn.

"Would you be able to take Reiko out to play in the snow while I focus on making us some food?" Y/N nodded silently, offering a small smile. "Thank you."

"Yay! I wanna build a snowman! And an igloo! And there's trees! Let's play hide and seek! Papa always finds me, maybe he can play too!" The small girl seemed to forget entirely about her injury, skipping forward and grabbing y/n's hand. She had a lot of strength for a child as she dragged the demon outside with her.

"Maybe not hide and seek...I don't want to get in trouble with your father." Y/N chuckled awkwardly, using her free hand to rub the back of her neck as they headed towards the snow that wasn't cleared out. The whiteness of the area made it a lot easier to see, which made it fun for the girl. "But to make a snowman we need to pick the area with the most snow, let's not go too far." This area was still new, and she had to make sure there weren't any dangers, although wildlife was definitely the highest threat. She hadn't been able to check the area before, although she was sure that Muzan had before coming here, she still didn't want to stray too far. Together they rolled up snow, the child setting the goal of making the tallest snowman possible and when the balls got to heavy for her, y/n would take over. Quickly they created a system that worked and for what felt like the first time in a long time, y/n actually found herself having fun...

"I know about the demon slayer that appeared before you yesterday." The progenitor's voice made her lose any sense of fun, though she pretended as though she still was for the sake of Reiko. "If I catch one of them getting that close again and you spare them, I will make you watch as I eat your precious Kyojuro." He hissed, the pressure of protecting them becoming even more intense. When they first moved those were his only words to her, scaring her out of her mind. She really hoped that no one would find her here, as she couldn't bare the idea of watching the person she loved suffer while there was nothing she could do...

Not even half an hour later, Reiko needed a break and so they headed indoors. The human food was ready, giving y/n a dose of free time. Although she couldn't do anything, as out of pure curiosity she headed towards the dark office. She couldn't get the science equipment out of her head. Gently, she knocked on the door, being granted access by the male demon. Regret instantly took over as she noticed the angered, no, enraged aura coming from him. His face didn't show it, but he was livid. Y/N couldn't help but wonder what left him in such a terrible mood. It couldn't really be her letting Senjuro go, could it? Especially not a month after the fact.

"What is this for?" Y/N questioned, staring as the liquid bubbled and multiple flowers were dried and displayed behind them. Most were blue but none were spider lilies.

"If I have any ounce of luck one of these tests will cure my allergy to the sun..." He spoke clearly, an edge to his voice that told y/n not to push. Instead she stood for a moment, admiring the colourful fluids as she wondered what got this man in such a sour mood.

"Gyutaro and Daki have been killed." He hissed, slight veins popping out as he spoke the words. Though he was able to control himself enough to hide them quickly after, y/n didn't even care to consider how he felt. The information smacked her in the face and halted her breathing, the grief assaulting her. How? The two who had helped her get where she was now were gone...Killed by demon slayers. They were upper six. How? She should have been happy, supportive of the demon slayers who had killed them successfully but yet...She couldn't...They had been her friends, demon or not, it still hurt her. The small sound and feeling of wind circled the area, y/n suddenly feeling the room become empty. Stunned, she stepped back a little, registering that Muzan was gone along with his science equipment...the room now looked like a normal office. Tears welled in her eyes once again as she had to cope with the fact that she never even got to say goodbye to the combined upper rank demons that were once her friends...They were still human and she hoped that they would rest in peace...

Scanning the area quickly, the flame hashira followed his little brother. His health had recovered enough, with the motivation of Senjuro running off, he left the home with just a basic nichirin sword. Apparently because of how badly injured he was, there was no rush to reforge his sword and so his sword guard remained in the swordsmiths village. A basic one would have to do. Together, they stopped in front of the home that Senjuro had found y/n in, her harsh words still stinging him.

"What?" The young boy frowned in confusion, looking at the empty house that looked as though no one had lived in it. "I swear they were here!"

"I believe you Senjuro." His older brother supported, placing a hand on his shoulder with a small smile. "Try to think, did she give anything away about where she might be going?"

"No..." Senjuro's voice grew soft, giving up as he stared at the yellow leaves on the ground.

"You did great getting this far, little brother. I will find them, don't worry." Kyojuro's voice was always confident, encouraging constantly. The younger of the two looked with wide, sad eyes. If the flame hashira found y/n, one of them wouldn't be coming back. Of course, he wanted it to be his brother that won, but this demon version of y/n had felt extremely powerful. He would struggle.

"I don't want either of you to die." He admitted, closing his eyes out of sadness. "Can't you just capture her? Bring her back and heal her?"

"I will try." The flame hashira reassured. "Let's get you home, I'll come back here and investigate myself." Responding with a nod, the Rengoku brothers left the abandoned home and heading back to their house. Kyojuro had empathy, he understood that Senjuro had really wanted to protect y/n, even after the hurtful words that she had said to him. He had healed barely enough to start hunting again, combat wouldn't be easy even with the simplest of demons but he was determined to find y/n. As much as he had wished there was a way of saving her, she wasn't like Nezuko. It was sickening to think that the woman he had loved had now become a brutal killing creature, he felt obligated to stop her. He only wished things had turned out differently.

Kyojuro would forever be grateful to y/n for saving his life, if only she could have survived too.