The reincarnation of Nakime's child ||KNY Fanfic

Chapter 7: Stare

"Tomioka-san!" Mitsuri gasps out in relief, nearly crying tears of joy seeing him alright. The Water Hashira is terribly wounded and exhausted, but alive, and that matters to her.

Giyuu gives Mitsuri and Obanai and nod, still reluctant on talking, but didn't complitely ignore them. Then the three Hashiras spotted the currect Upper Four-

"Wait, is that Tanjirou?!"

The trio stare in shock, and no one could really blame them. Tanjirou had been knocked out, and Upper Four had covered the boy with a blanket and given him a pillow. The demon was making no move to kill the unconsious Demon Slayer.

Obanai's first thought was that Upper Four was holding Tanjirou hostage, threatening to kill him if they tried to attack her... but when they tried to rescue Tanjirou, Upper Four got pretty upset when Mitsuri nearly got him.

In an instant a pillar had straight towards Mitsuri at nearly blinding speed. Mitsuri would've been killed, had Obanai not saved her.

When Obanai and Mitsuri were a safe distance away, and Giyuu wasn't too close, the demon turned her attention to Tanjirou, and adjusted the blanket and ran her fingers through the boy's hair, causing Tanjirou's furrowed brows to smooth. And the words that came out of the demon's mouth were even more confusing than the behavior. "Don't worry, sweetie. Mama's going to take care of this."

Mitsuri's first reaction was somewhere along the lines of thinking it was cute that a powerful demon felt motherfly affection towards a human. Obanai's first reaction was just stare with narrowed and confused eyes. And Giyuu's first reaction was just wonder how Tanjirou ended up in a situation like that.

Then all of them realised what the demon had said. Upper 4 had called herself Tanjirou's mother. And all of them knew that Tanjirou's mother is dead. They haven't been told directly, but it's pretty easy to piece together, and well... Giyuu has known for a long while now.

The three Hashiras stare in uncertainty. They're starting to think that what the Upper Rank 4 might be doing is protecting Tanjirou instead of intending to harm him. But that makes zero sense, so they immediately scrap that idea before it gets out of hand. Something's going on, and they don't like it.

-------.-----.-----.-----

Tanjirou felt dizzy. His head hurt and his senses felt dull. Tanjirou blinked the darkness away from his eyes, and now he was in a place he did not recognise.

He's in some sort of house, a small and in poor condition. The paper of the shoji screens were startingto peel off and the tatami mats starting to tear up. A pile of futons was messily folden into a corner, the fabric having been resown multiple times to cover holes and tears. The air was cold, the broken shoji screens not doing a lot to keep the house warm. Tanjirou couldn't smell anything.

"Yoshihiko."

Tanjirou blinked up and saw a woman standing in the doorway with a biwa. The woman looked identical to Upper 4, except she had two eyes, and their colors was a bit duller pink rather than the bright soft hue.

Tanjirou was about to speak, just to ask where he was and who she was, or just anything, when his mouth moved on his own. "Mama?"

Tanjirou blinked in confusion. "What? I didn't mean to say that."

The woman smiled. "Come on, sweetie. We'll be late."

Tanjirou's body moved on it's own. He stood up and walked over to the woman, who gave a soft affectionate smile and took his hand. The woman led Tanjirou out of the shabby house and into the streets. Dirt roads and rundown shaks were lined up next to a river with geese swimming near the shore.

Tanjirou halted and stared at the birds. The woman chuckled softly. "Do you like the geese?"

Tanjirou blinked up at the woman. Yeah, he supposes he does. Birds and other animals are fun. Tanjirou nodded and the woman smiled.

They continued walking towards a large bridge in the distance.

Then suddenly Tanjirou froze. In an alley, leaning against the wall was a three year old girl. Her skin was deathly pale and had weird spots. Her brown hair fell loosely around her head in a tangled mess, just barely revealing empty and dull grey eyes. Her posture was all weird, her clothing tattered, and flies buzzed around her.

The woman's grip on his hand tightened. "Don't look there, sweetie."

The woman continued walking, gently dragging Tanjirou with him. Tanjirou didn't need an explanation as to why the girl was there.

The woman's hand was trembling, every now and then rubbing Tanjirou's tiny hand with a finger, as if to reassure herself that Tanjirou was warm and alive, and not dead like that little girl was.

Distant laughter made both Tanjirou and the woman relax a bit, and a group of kids ran out into the streets laughing and singing some nursery rhyme.

"Go round, go round, waterwheel go round. Go round and call Mr. Sun. Birds, bugs, beasts, grass, flowers, and trees." The nursery rhyme rung in the air. It sounded a bit familiar.

The kids ran past them, the oldest stopping briefly to wave at the woman holding Tanjirou's hand. "Morning, Mrs. Otakawa!"

The woman, Mrs. Otakawa, waved back.

"Who's that boy?" Tanjirou heard one of the kids ask the oldest one.

"That's Mrs. Otakawa's son, Yoshihiko. Mom and dad told us a week ago." The oldest replied.

Then the kids continued to run happily, singing their little rhyme. "Spring and summer, autumn, winter, bring them all on. Spring and summer, autumn, winter, bring them all on."

Tanjirou knows that the kids back at his old village didn't sing that, and he and his siblings haven't heard it either. So why is it so familiar?

The woman chuckled gently. "Flower, bear, fruit, and die. Be born, grow old, and die. Still the wind blows and the rain falls. The waterwheel goes round and round."

And then they continued to walk. "Yoshihiko, when you're a bit older, you can go play with the other kids while I work. But now you'll stay with me."

̶Y̶̶o̶̶s̶̶h̶̶i̶̶h̶̶i̶̶k̶̶o̶ Tanjirou nodded. "Okay."

The woman smiled as they reached the bridge.