Reminders

"You Must Master a Single Thing つのこと極めけ"

(An- got real creative with this one. Hope you don't mind)

 Black heavens rain from above, faded by the moon's white light. A rode of rainbow painted across the sky speckled with the small puffs of snow. A pair of blue Satine eyes stared longingly past the drifting ash into your own faded set.

Crystal tears reflected the moonlight as the demon spoke a few hushed words.

"Young Master... Please be careful, there's a moon on the mountain."

Then, quickly as she came, she faded away into nothing but ash. Her white robes lay abandoned, bathing in the moon's light.

Your gaze fluttered toward the sinking moon. Only a few more hours of the night will last. Then, its light will fade to dawn, and the demons will flee for refuge.

"Only a few more hours left." Turning away from the lone rock, its emptiness stirring something deep inside your chest.

Only footsteps echoed in the ghost-quiet forest. Not a single animal called out into the night, nor a swift breeze blowing through the trees. The quietness sent a shudder rushing down your spine.

"Inosuke! Why on earth did you throw them!" A panicked voice cried out into the night, followed by a much more proud one. Confident of his words to be true.

"Eh! I shouldn't have to explain myself to you." His voice resonated within the trees, drowning out your soft footfalls against the dying leaves.

"You could have seriously hurt (y/n)." Panic laced his voice churning with concern with every word. Two shadowed forms appeared from behind the trees, one tensed and the other relaxed.

"I doubt that!" Stepping forwards, the shadows gained color, and their forms became clear. Your hand grew clammy, feeling the ominous warning flashing in your mind.

"I'd doubt that too, Tanji-Kun." Tanjirou's expression melted into one of relief instead of worry. He crossed the distance in just a few steps, coming to grab you by the shoulders.

Even though the layers of cloth, Tanjirou's hands felt chilled. A stark contrast to the warmth you had grown accustomed to.

"Are you okay? No bleeding anywhere? Broken anywhere?" His hands combed over your arms, lifting each one to inspect for damage. His fingertips gently intertwined themselves with your frosted ones.

Your gaze fluttered downward, feeling a pang of remorse. The pair of blue Satine eyes fixated in your memory, forever stuck.

Your fingertips grazed against the fabric across your chest. Attempting to feel a pain that wasn't there.

"Did you defeat it?" The pair of Rosewood eyes latched onto Inosuke's waiting form. A lump formed in your throat, almost trying to stop the words from coming forth.

"Yes..."

"That's why he threw you?" Inosuke chuckled loudly, confidently placing his hands on his hips. "Of course!"

Your grip tightened around Tanjirou's fingers. Then, slowly feeling the warmth return to his frosted fingertips. "But not without a warning. Tanji-Kun." His Rosewood eyes locked with your (e/c) set.

Yanking on his hand, you pulled the male in close. Your breath was hovering over his ear. "There's a Twelve moon on the mountain." His shoulders grew stiff, staying still to process the new information.

A hand latched onto your shoulder, forcing your body to turn around. You came face to face with Inosuke's mask, his snoot almost touching your nose. Your gaze lowered down his arms, seeing several cuts oozing blood down his arms.

"Inosuke Hashibira, sit. All that jumping around is opening your wounds." You gently pushed him down to inspect the large incisions all over his body. The demon really did a number on him.

He plopped down, crossing his arms over his chest with a slight pout. Taking out some of the ointment and slathered it over the oozing cuts. The cream stopped the bleeding but won't heal it right away.

"Just be careful Inosuke until we can get you treated." Inosuke jumped up while laughing off his non-existent pain.

Tanjirou's hand grazed over your shoulder. "We should probably find Zenitsu, I keep catching his scent, and hearing thunder." Inosuke took off running, making the two follow en-suit.

A loud echo struck behind the forest treeline beyond a split by a river. Your gaze shot up towards the emerald green crowns of the trees.

That sounded like thunder, but I don't see any clouds. Something in your gut sank as the sound completely faded away. "I hope that's not Zenitsu." Zenitsu was strange to you, often scared of his own shadow. But there was a certain spark in his electric yellow eyes that made you believe he was much more than on the surface.

Tanjirou ran a hand underneath his nose, attempting to correct the air somehow. "The pungent stench is getting stronger. I can't tell." It was an odd scent; feels stronger from further in. But the constant air flowing changes keeps it from coming from one place.

"(y/n)? Can you tell?" Tanjirou asked. You took a small sniff but got nothing. "Nup. The downwind is blocking everything pretty much." A pang of worry shot throughout your chest. Did Zenitsu follow us onto the mountain?

A hand lightly tugged on yours, pulling you in the direction of the loud thunder. "Inosuke. I want to go this way." Inosuke stopped halfway while crossing a small river. He glared at Tanjirou for making him stop.

"Do whatever you want." Inosuke snapped. Tanjirou turned his snappy statement with concern. "Are you heading down?" Resting a hand on the hilt of the blade, you just glanced along upriver. The conversation clearly wasn't going anywhere that important. 

"Why? Just beat it!" Your expression dropped to a monotone. Was he just being stupid or really doesn't feel pain from all those cuts?

"Well, you're seriously injured." You were convinced at this point you could physically grab Inosuke's pride and throw it in the river.

"I'm not injured!"

Tanjirou's expressed melted into a deadpan. "The injuries on your body are obvious to anyone with eyes."

A slight breeze wafted through the air, carrying the scent of a demon. Your head snapped across the river.

Standing there was a child, about 13 or 14 in age. She held a remarkable resemblance to the mother demon.

"Because of the smell flowing throughout the entire mountain, I didn't notice her at all." Tanjirou whispered, clenching the hilt of his black blade tightly. Well, neither did you, it was hard to pick up because of the changing winds.

"I'll cut her in half!"

Inosuke launched across the river, scaring the demon to running away. Fear etched onto every feature on her face.

That fear turned to confidence in the blink of an eye. "Damn you, demon! Don't run!"

"Dad!" In a heartbeat, a large demon almost twice the size of the headless one came running out of the forest.

"Stay away from my family!" The Demon loud out a loud howl, erraticly swinging punches wherever he could reach.

Instinctively, you grabbed Inosuke's arm and yanked him out of the way of another attack.

Breath of radiation frost, Second form, double radiation.

Pushing Inosuke aside you unsheathed the blades, making several consecutive cuts along the demon's arms.

But nothing sliced through, no new frost sprouted from the demon's limbs. A pang of anger shot through you.  Shoving the small blade through his arm still yielded no results.

"W-what? He won't freeze!"