Midnights • Tanjiro x Reader

2.3 | It's Only The Beginning

The mark you saw on my collarbone, the rust that grew between telephones
The lips I used to call home, so scarlet it was maroon.

~~~~~~

Y/n woke with a startle. Her mentor kept shaking her. "Oh my gosh, what Chiyo?"

"Your friend is here," She whispered.

Y/n's brain could hardly comprehend what she said, "huh? What friend?"

"What friend?" Chiyo rolled her eyes. "Y/n the maroon boy is here!"

"Tanjiro?" Y/n's eyes slowly began to adjust to the light. Not that there was much because it was the ass crack of dawn.

"Yes! Get ready girl," Chiyo threw the demon slayer uniform at her and left. Y/n groaned as she stood, the cold air hitting her body. Y/n could hear Tanjiro's voice through the door, he was talking to Chiyo. Oh god. What could Chiyo be saying to him? Her mentor loved to embarrass her, any chance she got.

Y/n put on the uniform and ran a brush through her hair. She debated whether or not to put her hair up. That was probably the best option. Y/n put her hair in a ponytail and grabbed her sword.

"Took you long enough," Chiyo stated when y/n walked out of the room. Y/n glanced at Chiyo and waved to Tanjiro.

"Hey, I assume Ms. Chiyo told you," Tanjiro said.

"No, she didn't," y/n replied. "I assume it's a mission, though."

Tanjiro nodded and said he'd explain on the way. Chiyo wish both of them luck and they were off. Their first mission together.

The door closed behind them and y/n felt something weird. There was a demon and Tanjiro is carrying it.

"Tanjiro," y/n kept on walking, she didn't want to startle him with her stopping abruptly. "Why is there a demon in the box you are carrying?"

"Sooooo," Tanjiro began. "It's a long story."

"I assume we have a ways to go, tell it," y/n didn't understand. Tanjiro wanted to kill demons too, so why was he carry one with him? Y/n hoped there was a good reason.

"When my family died, my sister ended up turning into a demon," Tanjiro started. "But, there's no need to be afraid! She's different. She won't hurt anyone. I promise."

Y/n stopped walking, she didn't want to, but she did. She turned to face Tanjiro, "she won't hurt anyone? Tanjiro she's a demon." The statement came out more harshly than expected.

"I know, but she had proven that she's not like any other demon," Tanjiro stated. "I promise she will not hurt anyone."

All y/n had to do was trust him. The one thing she was so bad at, trusting. She was able to trust Tanjiro with anything else, why couldn't she now?

"Fine," y/n gave in. "But if she does anything out of the ordinary, I swear Tanjiro, she will be gone."

Tanjiro swallowed. He never knew that y/n could get this scary. He knew that she took demon slaying very seriously. Of course, so did he, but not as much at y/n.

The silence grew louder as they walked on. Tanjiro always hated awkward silence. He knew he had to say something to y/n, but what could he say? He knew he probably shouldn't bring up demons, but they were on a mission to slay demons. Maybe, ask her what our plan is? Wait, does y/n even know where they are going?

"Wait wait wait, y/n?" Tanjiro jogged up to y/n's side. "Do you know where we are going?"

Y/n stopped. She hadn't realized that she had been walking in a random direction for about 10 minutes. Tanjiro turned on his heels to looks at her.

"No," y/n confirmed. "Sorry."

"It's ok! I hadn't really told you what the mission is yet," Tanjiro's hand scratched the phantom itch on his neck.

Y/n waited for Tanjiro say tell her what the mission was. It took him a second to realize what she was waiting for. "Basically there's a demons taking people in a town towards the northwest," Tanjiro said.

"Lead the way," y/n stepped out of Tanjiro's way. He stepped foward and sniffed the air, that's the way he always figured out which direction to go. Behind him, y/n dramatically smelled the air.

Tanjiro whipped his head around. "Are you mocking me?"

Y/n smiled. "No no, continue."

Tanjiro frowned, trying to keep down a laugh. His siblings would always try to smell the air like he did and they said that they were just trying to do what he was doing, but when he would turn back around they would giggle.

They carried on with their journey, there wasn't a lot of talking happening, but it was enough to keep Tanjiro satisfied. He assumed y/n still felt awkward going on a mission with a demon, but she didn't say anything.

Y/n picked up a stick from the ground. She needed something to occupy her mind from Tanjiro's sister. She was able to feel when demons are near, like in her bones. Y/n could do that with other people's feelings too, but not so much as she could with demons. Y/n always assumed it's because the demons had evil intent and she could feel that. Her mom was an empath, a magical being who could feel other's feelings in her body as if she were actually in their shoes. Y/n's mom said to y/n that she inherited the empathy from her. But, y/n could never really feel what they were feeling, unless it was a strong feeling.

She picked the leaves off of the stick. She thought about throwing them at Tanjiro as a joke, but she decided that was unprofessional. Y/n had already mocked him for smelling the air, so she thought it might've been mean if she did something else. 

Hours past as they walked until they finally reached their destination.