~BRAVE~ (Tanjiro X Reader)

Help Me

"You are useless. But still delicious. Girls always taste the sweetest, don't you agree?" The demon said. Grabbing ahold of me and easily lifting me off of the sand "You can't even protect your own comrade? And look at her just dozing away. Wonder what she's dreaming about." The demon smiled sinisterly at the thought. The sudden movement woke me up and I stared at the ground. Tanjiro immediately jumped back into action but was held back by Inosuke. Confusion was written on the demons face at the boy's sudden actions. I could tell behind Inosuke's mask, he wanted to see what I was capable of.

My mouth turned upward in a knowing smile. It was time to put on a show.

Noticing my situation, I laughed. Did he really think he got checkmate? "Higashima kuroschi. Born on February 19 of year xxx. First achievement as a child was reading his mom his first book...ring any bells?" I ask him. The demon's eyes widen and he drops me and holds his head in pain. "He loved his brother dearly but due to heart failure, his brother died at a young age. The boy threw tantrums over the death of his loved one. His- or should I say, your parents didn't want you as a child with such behavior. So they kicked you out. With you roaming aimlessly around the streets for shelter and some food. You had to get your right arm amputated due to frostbite." The demon screamed in agony and he fell to his knees of the floor. My eyes grew cold as a sinister smile appeared on my face. "What?" I asked him. "Don't all demons want to remember their past?" His screaming stopped as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Foam started to form at his mouth and his body dropped to the floor.

Within one minute of reminiscing, he was dead.

"Brutal," Zenitsu said. Inosuke huffed in acceptance and Tanjiro stared at the demon's body.

"How-how did you?" Tanjiro manage to push past his lips.

I smiled at him, looking away from the demon. "I have the ability where physical contact with demons specifically gives me their memories." I dusted the skirt of my uniform off and blew my hair away from my face. "This man's life was one of hard work and dedication. So I helped him remember that. He achieved so much through his life and was proud of it. Don't you see the smile on his face?"  I Asked them.

They looked at the demons face as it laid there rotting away. The smallest smile could be spotted.

"Fortunately not all of the demons I've killed have been this difficult. None of the demons know of my existence cause no demon has ever been alive to warn anybody." I could see Tanjiro smile to himself while looking at the demon's smile.

"I'm glad he could remember something like that before passing. They were humans too. It's so fortunate that Nezuko remembers..." He said, giving her a couple of head pats.

We took turns keeping watch throughout the night. I took the majority of the time because I couldn't sleep. My gut had a wrong feeling. Tomorrow we should be arriving at our destination thanks to the speed of the train. But, I could tell, there was something wrong.

                                              🌸

The sand demon left a horrible feeling in my stomach as we continued to travel. My new knowledge of me forgetting the face of the teleportation demon didn't help it settle down. We had arrived in a city around 1 am on the outskirts of the desert, so it was pretty warm. The city was blessed with many beautiful streams of water. The crow kept on saying that we've arrived at the right place, but in a place like this, Diakoku could be a little hard to find.

"Can we not try to find him today? I mean...we just crossed a whole desert for heaven's sake! Don't we deserve this time to rest?" Zenitsu complained, dragging his feet behind him as we slowly walked around the people in the streets.

"It's a mission Zenitsu. It has to get done as soon as possible. We don't really know the whole situation with that demon yet. This was the place we were at when I was teleported. The exterior of the buildings in this city is the exact same as those houses I remember seeing. Let's try to find the last place I saw it." Zenitsu groaned at my comment and agreed with me, even though he didn't want to.

"That's a good idea. Do you mind describing what you saw that day?" Tanjiro asked.

My head tilted to the side, rethinking Tanjiro's question over and over. It seemed off. Wait- not off. It seemed too relevant to the situation.

"The demon!" I screamed aloud. It was at the tip of my tongue and I had to say it before it got lost. "It was out during the day! I-I remember that!" I yelled. The people in the street looked at me with concern and then continued on with their lives. A small blush of embarrassment came to my cheeks. I hid my face behind one of my hands.

"What? Are you sure it was a demon? It could have been just a really ugly person." Inosuke asked.

Although laughing, my head nodded profusely with his question. I was 100% sure.

"I have some questions to ask him then..." Tanjiro's demeanor changed like it did the first night I met him. I couldn't help but be interested. Did he want Nezuko to roam in the sun like that demon did? I keep silent as I watched. But remembered what I was supposed to be describing.

"It was an area where houses were made of some sort of mud, or clay maybe. Bright colored clothes hung from the lines connected from building to building. All the houses looked like artists threw up all over it with graffiti. If I remember any more, I'll make sure to bring it up."

Later, we were all asking questions to the people about any sudden kidnappings, or loud noises randomly throughout the whole day. We managed to make our way to the main shopping district, where most of the people were. It was hard to maneuver around.

"Excuse me!"

"Scuse me!"

"MOVE IT!" We all said.

"A whole day and we've gotten, where? Nowhere!" I complained once we finally reached the tavern.

"Two rooms please." I heard Tanjiro say. "We can always look again tomorrow (Y/n). don't worry about it." My face grew into a slight pink remembering what happened last night. I looked down avoiding his gaze.

The desert heat was getting to mean last night. I only think of holy thoughts and nothing more.

"Yeah I know but...it shouldn't be that hard to find him. He's a pretty outgoing guy so we've had to hear something by now." I sat down at one of the tables and sighed. A waiter came around and handed me a drink, drawing my attention from the floor. "I'm sorry, I didn't order this. Plus I'm a bit underage..." I began.

"Yes I know, but he did." The waitress pointed over to a small booth in the corner coyly, before hurrying away.

My heart dropped in recognition. "D-Diakoku!?" I yelled.

The other boys in my group snapped their heads my way, then to the direction I was looking at. The boy at the booth turned around and gave me a toothy smile. But his eyes held a different meaning.

"Help me." They screamed. My stomach turned. Why did they look like that?
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Original release date: April 19th 2020