~BRAVE~ (Tanjiro X Reader)

Fireflies

Night had come sooner than we thought. I'm glad of it too. Nezuko came out of her box a while ago just as the sun set over the snowy hills.

"We're close to a different terrain now... I can smell it." Tanjiro said. What an odd sentence. What an odd actual group of friends. Tanjiro, the boy who can smell anything, Zenitsu the boy who can hear anything, and Inosuke, the king of the mountains... what am I? Oh I'm glad you asked. Im (y/n) the Demon who kills demons. I'm kind of proud of it. After all, I received my title from the king of mountains.

Earlier, Zenitsu had asked what my breathing style was. "Simple." I had said. "I don't have one."

"W-what? Then you must be extra strong!" Inosuke was baffled by my answer and I could tell he got excited behind his mask. I just laughed and waved him off.

"No not really. Though I'm stronger than average, I'm probably not as strong as you guys."

Zenitsu turned to me, baffled with his face flushed. Out of no where he hugged my waist with his head on my stomach. This caused the whole group to holt in their advances. "Did you hear that?" He swooned. "She called us strong. (Y/n) ma-" before he could finish what he was saying, Tanjiro had taken the back of his robe and yanked him off of me. We began to move again.

Disregarding Zenitsu's protest, Tanjiro continued to ask questions. "So then how do you kill demons?"

I kicked a rick on the ground. "I don't...eh. I mean. In a way, I guess I do?" Sadly, the rock had disappeared off of the trail.

"Stop making this a damn riddle and tell us already!" Inosuke shouted. I laughed at his anger. I could see steam coming from the boars nostril's.

"Alright alright. Technically speaking, I have never killed a demon in my life. But instead of killing them with my own two hands, I make them kill themselves." I winced at my description a bit. I could have worded it better. All of their heads snapped in my direction with awe.

"D-demon." Inosuke had said. I look behind me to see nothing was there, realizing. He was calling me the demon.

"Me?" I asked for clarification pointing to myself. Inosuke ignored me and turned his head away. I smiled a bit. Yes, you could say I'm some sort of demon. What I do is pretty scary.

The rest of the walk out of the snow was peaceful. Soft chatter was distributed amongst the group. Mostly complaints from Zenitsu. Nezuko held my hand as well as Tanjiro's as we continued to walk. She would hum happily with every step she took. The snow soon turned into grass and the air turned warm. Tanjiro, Nezuko and I stayed quiet while Inosuke and Zenitsu bickered up ahead. But then, my eyes caught something. Letting go of Nezuko's hand, I walked away towards the small little pond that was not too far from the trail we were walking. It wasn't really deep enough to call it a pond. It was more of a swamp.

Confusion was written on Nezuko's face as I walked away. She tugged on Tanjiro's arm a bit, grabbing his attention.

"What is it?" He asked. Then he noticed my absence. He looked around nervously until he spotted me on the side of the road. "What are you doing? He asked my crouched figure.

I only smiled at him before I yelled over at the other boys. "Zenitsu! Turn off the lamp and come here!" Tanjiro observed and beckoned his sister over with him. When the light went out, I blew into the grass and thousands of little fireflies erupted in a beautiful aurora in the sky. "This is the perfect time of year, when summer merged into autumn the perfect setting for fireflies to rest. My father taught me this. He's gone now but I bet he would've loved to be here." I whisper. Nezuko's eyes sparkled in admiration of the small bugs. Zenitsu freaked out a little, then looked closely as they brightened the night sky with light.

All of a sudden, a hand grabs mine and drags me into the fields to chase the bugs. She swats at them trying to catch them like Inosuke with his sword trying to kill them, but they fly out of his reach. Tanjiro watches as Nezuko and I chase the fireflies, when a firefly came up to him. Zenitsu joined us in chasing them...well, running away from them in his part.

Seeing his desperation to get away I laugh and stop him from continuing. "No no!" I laughed. "They're nice, I promise. Look." I managed to jump up and catch one just before it went any further. Nezuko came to join my lesson to Zenitsu as she caught one herself. "Stop trying to run away! They're not gonna hurt you." I yell at Zenitsu. He managed to finally settle down and I grabbed his hand forcing it open to place the bug in. To my surprise, I noticed his hands are way more calluses than a normal boy's hands. If he's worked so hard, why was he so scared? Zenitsu screeched a bit before giving in to the cute creature.

Being able to finally settle down, my back hit the floor. The soft grass cushioned my fall. Gazing at the beautiful lights, the rest of the group joined me. Zenitsu to my left as well as Inosuke, Tanjiro and Nezuko to my right. "I think it's a safe bet that we camp here for the night."

Hums could be heard in agreement "I could still go on! But...if you guys are tired then it's my duty as king to make sure his soldiers are well rested." Inosuke hmphed. My smile spread a bit. He was so self absorbant. Nezuko climbed back into her box to sleep and I closed my eyes and took a breath before slipping away into the arms of unconsciousness.
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Release date: April 8 2020