Animal Insticts - Inosuke x Reader

Ch. 5 - Reminiscing

-Inosuke's POV-

It was snowing, and he was outside in the middle of the mountain woods. The air smelled crisp, like berries and fresh water. Nearby, the snow sparkled on the bare tree branches.

His eyes scanned the area, the calm of winter settling in. Then - a twig snapped behind him, and he whirled. It was her...

Y/N stood about 15 feet from him, a delicate smile playing on her lips as their eyes met. Her mouth opened and she said something, but - he couldn't hear. He focused and she said it again... silence.

Suddenly his vision was blurry, the deafening sound of his blood rushing to his ears permeating his consciousness. He extended his hand towards her.

A terrified expression swept across her face as a dozen giant, hideous hands appeared out of nowhere from the wintery fog. They grasped and clawed at her, tearing her clothes, pulling her hair, scratching long red gouges into her soft skin as she tried to run towards him.

"Y/N!" he roared, everything turning red. The forest was huge, towering trees in every direction, but the only thing he saw was her. It was like slow-motion, each second agonizing. She was being pulled further and further away from him, her body twisting and flinching as she tried to escape from the hand's disgusting grasps, her blood dripping onto the porcelain snow.

He couldn't move, couldn't run, couldn't act - his muscles ached like hell, his nerves were on fire, but still he couldn't get any closer to her. He couldn't save her.

Tears streamed down her face as she mouthed his name, her hand outstretched towards him in one final desperate attempt at salvation before she was pulled back into the mist, her scream shaking his entire body.

Then, everything went black...

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Inosuke sat up violently, his hands grasping at the air in front of him. His chest heaved as he breathed big, heavy breaths. Scanning the room again and again, he couldn't remember where he was, why he was-

Y/N entered the room, humming a jaunty tune. She slid the door closed behind her and turned.

Within seconds, she was enveloped in a crushing embrace. Startled, she blinked, her face pressed tightly against perfect, toned pecs. "...I-Inosuke?"

She felt him tremble. Concern immediately washed over her - what was going on? She wrapped her arms around him.

His face was buried in her hair. The man's entire body was tense, shaking with every shallow breath. His legs gave out, and they collapsed to their knees, still gripping each other tightly.

His heart is pounding... I was gone for 5 minutes and he was snoring, what could have happened?!

She whispered his name again gently, feeling his arms give way slightly. Pulling back, her hands cupped his face as she looked into his emerald eyes.

The man before her looked utterly broken. The color had faded from his face and his entire body was covered in sweat, his eyes frantically darting between hers. He scanned her face over and over and over, memorizing every detail, trying to convince himself she was real.

"Inosuke?"

He blinked. His arms felt like they each weighed a hundred pounds as they hung around her loosely.

"You died," he finally spoke. His voice was low and rough, barely just a rumble escaping his lips. "I saw you die... and I... couldn't..."

"I'm not dead! I'm not dead," she spoke frantically, his terror rubbing off on her. "Look, I'm right here," she grabbed his arms and guided his hands to touch her shoulders, her face. "I'm right here..."

He stayed there, looking at her. Looking at her hair, her eyes, her hands against his. A long, shaky breath left his lips and he slumped, his head falling into the crook of her neck.

Y/N held him, slowly smoothing his hair with a gentle hand. She didn't know what to do... I'm not dead, at least, I think I'm not... was it a nightmare? How do you comfort someone over a loss that didn't actually happen..?

The demon slayer cleared her throat. She began humming... a slow, quiet lullaby her mother used to sing to her as a child whenever she was upset. Leaning her head against his, she tried to slow her breathing and heart rate, hoping that would somehow guide his body to do the same.

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Time passed, but neither of them noticed. Her fingers parted his hair, twirling the silky strands around, tracking the blue shimmer with her eyes. He was breathing slowly now, his heart no longer threatening to jump out of his chest.

She tried to think of another song, tired of repeating the same lullaby verse over and over. After searching her mind and coming up blank, she sighed.

"Do you remember when we first met? It was only the third mission I had been on after joining the demon slayer corp. You, Tanjiro, and Zenitsu were already there when I showed up." She giggled, the memory replaying in her mind. "You were chasing Zenitsu in circles yelling something crazy at him, and Tanjiro was chasing you. Zenitsu fell, you tripped over him, and slammed head first into a tree trunk,"

Inosuke's eyes were glazed over, but he was hanging on to each word she spoke.

"I think that was the mission where we fought that giant plant demon, the one with the creeping vines blood art. I barely knew you guys, but when it grabbed you and swallowed you whole - I thought for sure you were dead... I was actually really damn scared. And then... and then you just sliced through it's fuckin' neck from the inside, like it was nothing." she giggled again, leaning her head back. "You were covered in that absolutely foul slime, oh my god, it was so gross - and you waved your swords in the air, flinging the slime all over the place, and yelled at Zenitsu that he'd never be as cool as you," her fingers trailed through his hair. "You know, I think he's still mad about that."

She felt him tremble again, and paused - oh, geez. Did I say the wrong thing? Maybe this wasn't the best story to reminisce on after everything...

"...It was true then, and it's true now. Piss head will never be as cool as me,"

She looked down at him, surprised and relieved to hear his voice after such a long silence.

"Don't tell him I said this, but... I agree," Laughter rang out from her, the most amazing sound he had heard in what felt like a long time.