~Breathe~ Kimetsu no Yaiba x !Demon! Reader

❀Better Brother❀

I groggily stared up at the plain white ceiling of the butterfly estate. I woke up a little while ago but I was in a daze. My thoughts being stuck in the past. Seeing blue striped covered arms haunt my thoughts.

All the blood-covered memories. So much blood...

My limbs were sore and it hurt to move, it felt like ball and chains were wrapped around every inch of my body. I sighed closing my eyes, painfully bringing my arm up to cover my closed eyes. The bed's covers that laid across me suddenly felt heavy as I bit back tears. The knot from the previous night came flowing back.

I've heard the nurses shouting and running back and forth for hours. Panicking about a patients injuries... hours... I've only been here for a day and I've slept through half of it... and they are still running around in a panic. Intense surgery.

It was Kyojuro.

I know it is.

Remembering Kadzuki's words as I drifted that day. He was still breathing... but how long for exactly? I heard them yelling out his conditions. Yelling for assistance to help Shinobu.

It's fatal... it's bloody... he won't make it... Shinobu can't do this herself... that eye is sickening...

Just to name a few.

I suddenly sat up in my bed, wincing at the pain shooting through my body as my back popped. Being moved for the first time in hours. I couldn't listen to this anymore. I will throw up an illness on this floor right here right now if I don't leave.

My hand hovered over my mouth subconsciously from the feeling in my stomach. Right when I reached my hand out to peel back the covers, Shinobu walked in. Her hair was slightly disheveled and she looked tired. There were some bloodstains on her uniform and her hands were wet like she just freshly washed them.

I only now just realized the shouting had stopped and things seemed to slow down finally. Shinobu looked around the room, her eyes stopping at me. Her face unchanging, eyes glowing with exhaustion and wrinkles wanting to form on the sides of her mouth.

Why did she come in here?

She waltzes over to me and plopped herself on my bed. My eyes were wide as I looked at her side profile sitting in front of me. "I don't want you to blame yourself..." She spoke softly.

Oh god. Please don't.

"I know you feel like you didn't do anything... you probably think you only got in the way." I felt the tears I fought back earlier starting to come crawling back. The vomit building up once again. "But... that ice trick you did on his stomach? Safe to say... without it... he wouldn't be with us right now."

...huh?...

"Sorry," She laughed tiredly. "Did I scare you?" Before I knew it I leaped out from my covers, wrapping my arms around her petite body. Clutching her butterfly pattern haori. A breath of relief escapes my lips.

"...Thank you...!" I haven't been much with words lately, but this was the best I could do in the middle of all these emotions.

"Thank me?... I hardly did anything really. All I did was stitch him up and clean off the blood. That little ice trick you have done all the heavy lifting."

"Wh-wha-... really? How?"

"Well... none of his organs were really damaged and that ice stopped the extensive bleeding long enough for me to close the wound." She brought up her hand and placed it on my back. Pulling my closer than I already was. "You really are cut out to be in the demon slayer corps, y/n..." She paused, a smile gracing her lips. "I'm glad... where would we be at right now if you weren't here...? I can only wonder..." She inhaled tiredly before continuing.