Aspiration For Tranquility (kny x M!reader)

Ch. 24 - Butterfies

This woman had already made a bad first impression on (y/n), the demon moving to step between the two before anything more could be said.
This surprised the butterfly woman since she hadn't noticed his silent presence until now.
She didn't have time to question him, though, as the burgundy haired boy dashed off with the demoness in his arms.

The butterfly woman immediately moved to chase after the children, but Giyu jumped to stop her with his katana.

"Hey, you! Go protect those kids!"

Giyu shouted at (y/n) before clashing with the butterfly woman once more.
Reluctantly, (y/n) left Giyu without a word and followed the kids.
He caught up to them in no time, just to see another person chasing them.
(Y/n) continued to follow them until the boy tripped, dropping the girl and yelling for her to keep running.
Not wasting any time, (y/n) scooped the demon girl into his arms and continued to run.
He left the boy behind, figuring the demoness was who these slayers were really after.
As (y/n) ran, the new butterfly girl that appeared continued to pursue him.

'Why do they want this girl dead? I get she's a demon, but I don't sense an ounce of malice in her towards humans... Even Giyu is willing to fight to protect her, so something is up.'

(Y/n) pondered to himself as he ran, an irritated expression under his mask as the new girl chased him persistently.
This chase went on for a few more minutes, (y/n) easily avoiding her attack attempts, until crows started flying overhead.

"Kaw! Kaw! Message! Capture Tanjiro, the demon Nezuko, and the masked man! Capture them and return to headquarters! Tanjiro has a scar on his forehead! The demon Nezuko has a bamboo muzzle! The masked man's mask bears the kanji for "peace"! Kaw!"

The crows called out, making the chase come to a sudden halt.
(Y/n) slowly turned to face the slayer girl, as if asking her, "Did you hear them?" Without speaking.
When the girl motioned for him to follow her with her karana, (y/n) groaned quietly and followed behind her with this "Nezuko" demon in his arms.

It would be very difficult and disrespectful for (y/n) to go against the leader's wishes now, especially since he knew where (y/n)'s resided now.

The unlikely group of three eventually made it to a group of kakushi, who also had "Tanjiro" in their possession.
Some of the kakushi directed (y/n) to some sort of wooden box with the demon girl, and told him to put her in it.
(Y/n) tilted his head, wondering why they wanted to box her up, and he tried to pass her to one of the kakushi instead.
When all of the kakushi avoided touching Nezuko like the plague, (y/n) rolled his eyes under the mask and carefully set the child demon in the box.
When she was settled and tucked away nicely, some of the kakushi carried her and Tanjiro away.

As for (y/n), none of the kakushi wanted to go near him.
The silent presence of this... stranger was eerie.
Only when Giyu and the butterfly woman arrived did anyone talk to him.

"Who are you?"

Giyu asked in a neutral voice, but there was a hint of curiosity in his words.
(Y/n) wanted so desperately to talk to his Precious Delphinium again, to tell him how happy and proud he was of him, but... he couldn't get a word out.
He stood there silently with a throat as dry as firewood.

To any onlooker, it would seem like (y/n) was ignoring Giyu, but the water hashira knew better.
He could feel how (y/n) was looking at him, even with the mask blocking the stranger's face.
There was a... familial sense coming from his stranger, like they had known each other once.
But, before Giyu could get another word out, the butterfly woman interrupted him.

"Oh my, it's you again! Now that we're not fighting, we can have a proper conversation."

The woman spoke in a gleeful and light voice as she approached the two men.
Although she sounded chirpy, her tone was... off.
She sounded irritated.
They both tried to ignore her, and Giyu even opened his mouth again, but she just stepped between the two.

"My name is Kocho Shinobu! I am the insect hashira of the demon slayer corps! This is Tomioka Giyu, the water hashira, but don't mind him."

There was that tone again.
Despite trying to ignore her, (y/n) tilted his head to look at her and show that he acknowledged her words.
Without a word, he tilted his head back up to hopefully continue his "conversation" with Giyu.
Unfortunately, Kocho's interruption seemed to have pushed him away since he was no longer around.
A delighted but equally irritated "Hm!" Brought (y/n)'s attention back to the insect hashira.

"Say, what's your name? You haven't spoken a single word to anyone!"

She commented, a slight glimmer of annoyance sparking in her purple eyes as she looked at this silent stranger.
Despite noticing the annoyance, (y/n) continued to look at her in silence, now keeping quiet on purpose.
She had interrupted his talk with Giyu, so he didn't want to give her the satisfaction of conversing with her.
Aware that he wasn't talking deliberately now, she continued to shower him with questions all the way back to the demon slayer headquarters to get a reaction out of him.
He ignored her for the most part, though, simply following the kakushi until the two were forced to part ways.

Even though she was a little irritating, (y/n) couldn't help but admire her persistence!
Perhaps he would answer some of her questions at a later date.

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《~Fin.~》

979 words not including these!

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Thank you for reading this chapter! Yes, YOU! I am so grateful for everyone who has been taking time out of their days to read my book! I truly am happy I've been getting so much support despite my terrible update consistency, and I thank all of you for 8k reads! It brightens my day whenever I remember that people are really enjoying my book, and I hope I can continue to give you all something worth reading! Again, thank you, everyone, for reading my silly little story, and I hope you all have wonderful days/nights! Goodbye for now, my dear readers!

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《{Secrets unlocked: x3!}》

《{Tanjiro can smell sadness, regret, and grief coming from (y/n) any time the demon looks at Giyu, but he doesn't know why! What relation could this masked man have with the water hashira, he wonders?}》

《{Giyu feels, deep in his gut, that he knows this mysterious stranger even though he didn't speak!}》

《{Shinobu wonders why the mater requested for (y/n) to be taken as well, but she won't question him!}》