Stone Cold | Tanjirou Kamado (old version)

14. Under the protection of the fire god

Ayaka's head pulsed with something close to a headache. But there was no time to worry about headaches or the cold that slid on her body without warning, and all of her trembled under Tanjirou's arm who got her closer to his body as if he didn't only want to protect Nezuko, but her too.

And for a moment Ayaka allowed herself to lean on his chest, reminding herself it will only be for a minute, enough so for Tanjirou not to notice she was there, trembling and giving herself a break for once.

She wanted to cry, she would if she had any strength left, maybe Tanjirou wouldn't care, maybe he wouldn't care if she cried, if she trembled, about her quirky traits, maybe, she wanted to believe, that Tanjirou liked her, even if just the smallest pinch, the slightest chance because he had no reason to do so. He must have hated her, either way, just like she expected Zenitsu to do as well as her parents and Yuu and Inosuke and Himejima-shishou and Genya.

But instead, Tanjirou got her closer to him because he distinguished the invisible way her bones trembled and he knew she couldn't fight anymore, at least not without collapsing out of exhaustion. Now it was his turn to wield the sword and finish the demon off, he was an older brother, he knew his responsibilities, always had.

"Your bonds have touched me. I have no words to describe this feeling, such a strong bond between siblings," the demon started, getting a hand to his chest. "But I have to kill you, you messed with my family. However, there's a way to avoid this. Give me your little sister, if you hand her over without trouble I'll forgive your life, and if you care, the girl's too, although I can kill her if she bothers you. She's the loud type, it would be best to get rid of her."

Tanjirou backed away dragging along with him Nezuko and Aya, that strangely didn't squirm against his touch. From the demon came a sour and sharp smell, he had to be careful.

"I don't understand what you mean, hand Nezuko over?" He asked cautiously, softly squeezing his sister's shoulder.

"Tanjirou, it's lying, it wants to trick you, you're gonna get killed the moment you hand Nezuko over," Ayaka muttered under his shoulder. She sounded the most fearful Tanjirou had ever heard her, voice weak and low not because she wanted to whisper, but because she had truly been crashed. "You have to run away, get Nezuko out of here. You can't win against the demon."

Tanjirou didn't like the way she said it, there's no bitterness or fury and that only meant there was something wrong, more than it usually was. Hopelessness swimmed on her eyes, a dark brown puddle that reminded Tanjirou of Tomioka's eyes, but his eyes were blue, like an abyss in the middle of the ocean, while Ayaka's were a hole with no end.

Tanjirou feared Ayaka wished to die, that she planned on doing so the moment he and Nezuko disappeared from her sight and even then burnt herself to the ground to end up being slashed into tiny pieces because she had no reason left for breathing that wasn't killing demons.

"You have to run away." He didn't want to think about the way there was no "we" in that sentence.

«And what about you?», he wondered, eyes fixed on the demon because he felt if he looked away he'd kill them one way or another, just like Aya warned.

"You can't win against the demon." Did she think she could? That she'd be able to defeat the demon as he comfortably ran away to a safe place? He had enough blood spilled over the walls and the floor as he safely slept on someone else's house, he wouldn't let that happen again, not if he could do something about it.

He wouldn't be able to see anyone else die, he wouldn't be able to see Aya die knowing she would leave this world as he did nothing about it.

«Are you planning on dying?», he wonders, looking over at Aya for a second.