Reincarnated Yoriichi Reader x Demon Slayer

Chapter 5

                                                                                          "sōshitsu"

The rain came down in sheets drenching over the entire mountain in a thick impenetrable mist, the night was dark, with the only semblance of light coming from the faint and yet looming moon that swept above the rolling thick clouds, the trail of the mountain was slick with thick and sloppy mud, and yet they ran.

His network of crows had reported what he had feared the most, it had been an hour ago, when it was spotted, a demon. He was certain that his mother burned the wisteria every night, as he had ordered her, but...

"Y/n", Kanae was trailing behind him, and she spoke with a quiet hush, her voice barely audible atop the loud barreling rain, pulling him back to reality, they were closer, "They'll be okay", She added, but even to her, it sounded like hollow reassurance, it didn't soothe his worries at all.

"I hope so", He boosted his speed as he breathed in, he clutched the handle of the blade tightly, and as his head bobbed up and down, it suddenly came into vision, the entrance to his home, it was dark, and muddy, and wet, and...

He could smell it, the undeniable scent of fear, and death.


Tanjiro stood in front of his siblings, his breathing was heavy and labored, and it came in short stints as his body overflowed with adrenaline, he was clutching his axe, the same one his older brother had gotten him for his birthday, his knuckles had turned white as the door to his home held on for dear life, the demon had stopped taunting him a minute ago, but the things he had said, Tanjiro knew they were true, his brother was not going to save them, his parents were dead, and they would all be next, because of his brother's sins. "B-ig brother", Rokuta stuttered quietly, Tanjiro blinked and breathed out, Nezuko clutched her hand tightly against Rokuta's mouth, "Be quiet", She mouthed, her voice lower than a whisper. Tanjiro stepped backward, the wooden floor creaking beneath his heavy body mass, he let go of another deep breath, and then he heard it, added to the muffled sounds of the rain above the roof of the house.

A pained cry, a shriek that made him jump, both because of how sudden it was, and how wailing and painful it sounded, the shriek stopped for a moment, as if the one who had let it go ran out of voice, as If the strings in his throat tore off. And then he heard something else, a deep chuckle, and a whistling sound, as if air was being violently pierced, the chuckle subsided into a shriek of pain, and Tanjiro released the clutch of his axe, his knuckles burned with pain as he did, but just as he relaxed, the door shoved open, but it wasn't the grotesque monster that had taken his parents from him, it was a woman, as old as his older brother, with pristine skin and a face that was determined, she also had a blade, just as his brother.

Tanjiro let go of his axe, letting the weapon barrel onto the ground as he fell onto his knees, reality had finally set in, and he cried out, he wasn't sure what he said, but he knew he cried.

Y/n's ears were ringing, his hands lathered with the blood of his parents, or what was left of them, he had disposed of the demon in less than a second, he was sure he was screaming, but he couldn't hear it. He had failed, again...
He tried, so hard, in what felt like an eternity, to piece back the jumbled mess of gore and flesh that was splattered against the ground, but all that lead to was just his hands becoming filthier, and stickier with their blood. His father missed his jaw, blood and juices spilled from the top half of his skull, his eye was gouged out, and his bones stuck out, the only reason Y/n even recognized him as his own was because of his crimson hair, that was now lathered with his red blood, his torso was twisted beyond anything that resembled a human, a leg torn off, fingers turned in the wrong way, ribs splattered against the mud. His mother was somehow worse, he had belived for the slightest moment, that she was still alive, her eyes were still open, her mouth was still slightly agape, her neck was torn, with a pool of blood and flesh in its place, her arms were twisted, and her stomach shredded...

He had reason to cry...

"Tanjiro", Kanae guessed with a quiet voice, she dropped onto one knee and placed a reassuring hand onto the red haired child's head, "You did great", She tried spinning a positive, "We're here now, both, me and your brother", She spoke softly as Tanjiro stopped crying.
"Brother...is brother here?", Nezuko asked as she stood suddenly, the rest of the children, besides Rokuta who seemed too young to know what was happening, were shell-shocked, their eyes peered into an infinite void of nothingness. Witnessing what she had seen a glimpse of, that mess of two bodies, it must have destroyed them, like it was destroying Y/n. "Yes, he is", Kanae delivered a warm smile, "You must be Nezuko, you're just as beautiful as he has described you", Kanae stood up and placed a hand on her cheek, rubbing it slightly, Nezuko smiled up at her, despite what had just happened...

"Y/n...", Tanjiro hushed, breathing In sharply, Kanae turned quickly, and there he stood, in the doorway, causing a looming and unsettling shadow, his red hair was wet and matted against his forehead, his clothes hung tightly against his body, and blood dripped from his fingertips, his eyes were lifeless, and cold, causing a shiver to run through Kanae, he seemed so...distant.

He opened his mouth slightly, but he couldn't say anything, the lump in his throat threatened to kill him, instead, he just stepped forward, and grabbed onto Tanjiro, tight enough to break a few bones, they stayed quietly, tightly hugging each other, they were all they had left.

It was a quiet decision, that they would all leave, and they did, in a matter of minutes, Kanae made sure to cover each child's eyes as they walked outside, soothing them with a random story as Y/n quietly dug up a hole and softly placed the two bodies- if you could call them that-inside, and then he hastily covered it, reciting a quick prayer before joining the line of children as if it was a pilgrimage, he stood at the edge of the line, while Kanae lead them slowly, they were all exhausted...
"Brother", Rokuta turned to him, his eyes were the same shade of dead as his brother's, Y/n stopped and picked him up, his hands in between his armpits as he put him on his neck, "I love you", Rokuta kissed the top of his head with his thin lips as Y/n pushed on, walking forward as a vanguard to the line of his family, and Kanae.

The trip was tiring, he had to maintain speed with the rest of the group, Rokuta slept on top of him as they walked, he had spoken rarely, merely cycling on being the spearhead and the vanguard of the group, as the sun began coming up, they finally approached the sprawling estate of the butterfly mansion. "Rokuta", Y/n shook him slightly, he hummed awake and sat up as he continued to sit on his brother's neck, "All of you, scrub off", Y/n's voice was strained, "And try to sleep it off, okay?", He knelt as he removed Rokuta from his neck, and placed him with the rest of his siblings, "I... am sorry", He softly said as Hanako enveloped him in a tight hug before he even finished his sentence, then Nezuko, then Shigeru with Takeo at once, then Rokuta-who wasn't sure what was happening-, and finally Tanjiro too, although he had an air of reluctance.


He watched as they quietly argued about who would shower first, it was as if they hadn't gone through all of that, it was an eery familiarity. "Can you make space for all of us?", He turned to Kanae, and she hastily spoke, "Of course", She didn't know exactly what to do, what was etiquette in this situation, after all she was in debt to him, forever. "They won't be too much trouble, they all work hard, and...", He was stopped as Kanae hugged him, but it was more so a hug for her comfort rather than to comfort him, because in her mind, the state that Y/n found his parents, could have been the state Shinobu could have found her if he hadn't been there, but he was, and she would have to be there for him too.

"I'm so sorry", She clutched against his neck tightly, he hesitated, but when he did finally hug her, enveloping his arms against her fit frame, he closed his eyes, and felt a breeze of relief through him.
"I'm...here...forever", She offered him, she couldn't get bored of his voice, even if he were to speak on the death of his parents. "You got that?", She questioned, her eyes slammed shut, "Anytime, anywhere", She offered, "Thank you", it took a lot out of him, but he spat it out, it felt alien.
"You go sleep, I'll...help them all settle up", Kanae finally broke the hug, but she still held onto his neck, peering into his tight crimson eyes, he still held onto her back. It felt like an eternity of staring, examining each other to a tee, memorizing the features that stood in front of each other, and when they finally went their separate ways, him going past her to sleep inside of her room, and she went by the bathroom door, awaiting the children with fresh clothes and towels, they exchanged one last stare.

He lay on her bed because it was the most comfortable in the estate, he wanted to cry, but it felt as if he had ran out of tears, his clothes and blade were neatly put into a corner, and he stared blankly at the ceiling, his mid ran replays of what had happened, and he thought of what if's, what if he had been slower, his entire family...
What if he had been quicker, then his mother would be here, teasing him about Kanae, pleading to make her a grandmother, and his father observing them from afar with a smile, he almost smiled at the thought, but it wasn't real, he had to settle into reality, but it was hard.
He hadn't felt like this, even as Yoriichi, though the concrete memories of that life were burning out like a candle light, he didn't remember feeling this lost, this hurt. He could only really think of one person who could console him, besides Kanae, it would have been Michikatsu, if only...if only he hadn't been reborn.

The last thought that snipped through his tired brain, was the wish of never being reborn.