Why me? ᴷᴺʸ

운명적인 만남~ A fateful encounter

(if your having a hard time imagining what she looks like, the image above is what she roughy look like. -there are barley any girl demon Tanjiro fan arts-)

When Sumiko opened her eyes, she expected to see the dark wooden ceiling of Urokodaki's home.

Instead, she found herself faced with deformed walls with her propped against it and covered in a blanket. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust and the smell of earth and wood to register in her mind. For a while, she wondered why she was here. She didn't know how long she'd slept this time and she instantly felt guilty that she'd worried Nezuko again. But, but, it was different this time because she'd promised to let go.

That she needed to be in the present.

Taking off the blanket, she padded around this incredibly small space on her hands and knees before moving for the exit where traces of moonlight shone through.

Crawling out of that tiny cave as her clawed hands swiped away large tangles of leaves, Sumiko realized that she'd been sleeping inside the base of a tree and the walls earlier were actually the mass of roots intertwined and overlapping each other. The entrance had been covered by foliage and she realized that, whoever had placed her here, had intended to hide her–

Suddenly, she froze as a familiar voice from her dream reverberated through her once again.

Urokodaki-san needs you! The flower girl's desperate plea felt like ice coursing through her veins. That while she didn't remember the dream in its entirety, she could now recall hearing voices imploring her to wake up.

She recoiled as a pungent smell reached her senses, scrambling to cover her nose with trembling hands.

What is this?

This scent, for some reason, bothered her beyond belief. It was the smell of blood, the smell of carnage, the smell that wasn't human.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion behind her and she could feel the tremors even from where she was slumped. Slowly, she pushed herself to stand up. No matter how much she tried to settle down, her nerves were on edge and she was breathing rather heavily. It wasn't until a loud creaking sound started emanating from the bamboo muzzle in her mouth that she realized that she was trying to grit her teeth, biting harder than she was supposed to.

Looking at the moon above, she could safely assume from numerous nights having it as her constant company that it was a few hours before dawn. She squashed that instinctual fear that usually surged through her at the thought of the sunlight touching and incinerating her skin once more. While it always saddened her that she could only stay behind within the safety of Urokodaki's home during the day, Sumiko knew on a subconscious level that if she let the sun come into contact with her directly, she could really lose her life.

The ground she stood on shook once more before the burgundy-haired demon leapt from the ground and dashed towards its source.

Her face tightened in that familiar way when she'd fought that demon back at the temple years ago while her claw-like hands flexed and clenched, restless and taut as she urged her limbs to go faster. The closer she got, the stronger that pungent scent got.

The nearer she was, the smell of Urokodaki's blood and pain finally reached her.

A low rumble started from her chest before she found herself loudly growling.

***

The moment she burst into the clearing, Sumiko only had eyes for Urokodaki.

To her relief, the man was still alive. Though, that feeling was short-lived when she saw him wheezing, his clothes drenched in blood, leaning heavily on his sword that was stabbed on the ground while blood continued to drip in alarming quantities from the bottom of his mask. Her own blood felt hot under her skin as her slitted eyes shifted to the back of her enemy. That bitter scent was stronger than ever and it was now clear to her why this unknown angered her just by existing.