New Fangs (KNY X HxH)

10

Tanjiro knew something was wrong with Killua ever since the day after he woke up the second time. His scent was mixed and tangled, he couldn't get a clear sense of what he was feeling. Like he's trying to hide it. What was plain obvious though, was that Killua had a crush on Gon. He literally blushed almost every time he came into contact with him, or when he smiled in his direction. Another thing that worried him, were the scars he had. Tanjiro knew that demons couldn't get scars like that, so that must mean that he had gotten them when he was human. But how? What even happened? His scent didn't match his carefree attitude. Before, he and Gon went everywhere together but after the incident, Killua always went off on his own at least once a day. He thought back to when Killua was cutting his own finger off. 'it feels like a small stab wound' why does he know what one of those feels like? And doesn't getting any part of your body off hurt like hell? Demons weren't that resistant to pain, he'd heard the screams of a demon getting a limb ripped off. So why doesn't it seem to affect him like that?

Tanjiro watched Killua leave, then as soon as he did he frowned slightly. "Tanjiro? Something wrong?" he sighed, "I don't know" he turned to Zenitsu, who was currently standing a few meters away from him. "something about him worries me" Zenitsu nodded a little, "yeah, he's kind of scary" you never change do you. "that's not what I mea-" suddenly Zenitsu flinched and he stopped talking, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Zenitsu?" he opened his and he started to give off a terrified scent. "I heard something, it sounded like..." he trailed off for a moment. "it sounded very sad... and angry" that might be Killua, maybe I can figure out what's wrong with him! "which direction did it come from?" he pointed in a direction. "up that way" he nodded, then went out the door. "hey Tanjiro!" he glanced over at Gon. "where are you going?" he gave him a warm smile. "I'm going to the stream, don't wait for me because I'll be back soon ok?"

Zenitsu gave him a confused look and he walked off. He always goes off alone at least once a day, I wonder what he does. When he neared an overhang he paused as he smelled something mildly alarming. It was blood, sadness, anger, and Killua. It is him, maybe I can figure out what he's doing. Tanjiro snuck up the side of the mountain, making sure his footsteps were silent as he did so like he was taught. He hid behind a tree about 15 meters away and peeked out slowly. He nearly gasped at what he saw. Killua was pressing the Nichirin sheathes his yoyos had to his arm and cutting slashes along it as he did so. Why's he hurting himself? It's not like he'll die but that must hurt really bad! Then he smelled tears, Killua's breath was raspy and he wiped one of his eyes. "Damn it" he said, trying to wipe his tears again. "I deserve it though..." he murmured, which made Tanjiro's heart clench. Is he hurting himself because of what happened with Gon a while ago? How long has he been doing this?

Tanjiro couldn't watch this go on any longer, he came out from behind the tree and Killua gasped, trying to hide his arm. "O-oh hey" he walked over and sat down next to him. "why?" Killua bit his lip and looked away, "you wouldn't understand" he sighed, putting a hand on his shoulder. "if you don't tell me, I can't help" Killua didn't respond, he that was when he realized that he was still holding the yoyos. Tanjiro tried to pry his hands open, which was ineffective but Killua let them slip from his fingers and fall. There was only one option left, one route that would get Killua to talk to him. I really don't want to do it that way, but if he won't talk... "Listen, I want to help" he said, "but if I can't figure out how to help you, I'm going to have to tell Gon-" he felt Killua's fear spike as he said that. "No!" he turned around, hands clenched. "You can't!"

He smiled reassuringly, holding Killua's hands in his own as he smoothed them out. "then talk to me" he saw Killua bite his lip, considering his options. "I don't deserve to be Gon's friend" he said, looking away again. Tanjiro frowned slightly. "that's not true" he huffed a little, "I can't recover strength through sleeping like Nezuko does" he blinked, then Killua continued. "my body gets weaker every day I deny myself food. The urge to kill raises higher and higher" he looked away, with a small tear in his eye. "Today I couldn't stop myself f-from..." he breathed for a second. "I couldn't stop myself from eating a child" he bit back a gasp of horror. Wait, he ate someone? Usually he would have killed a demon who even ate a single person, but the look on his face... I'm torn here, on one hand I don't forgive demons who eat people but... but he tried so hard to control it, and he's hurting himself because of what he did wrong.