A Frozen Flame (Shinobu x Male Reader)

Yoriichi Type Zero

3rd Person POV

Opening up in a small clearing in the Swordsmith Village, a young boy was seen standing in front of a strange doll-like figure behind him. The doll appeared to be falling apart, its colors slowly fading away and the left eye starting to fall apart and crumble away. In front of the boy were two people, one a young man, likely still a teenager, dressed in muted dark turquoise colors, beside him was a large man who... Oddly looked like a bipedal dog wearing human clothes and talking. The two being the Mist Hashira, Muichiro Tokito, and the Captain of Squad Seven, Sajin Komamura.

Boy: Get out of here! You can't make me give you two the key! And even if you did, I wouldn't show you how to use it!

Off to the side, two people were watching the whole scene unfold, the first, a young boy with redish-black hair, a green and black checkered haori, and two hanafuda earrings. The second, a young man dressed in an ice-patterned haori with pure white hair that ended in light blue tips. The first, the young demon slayer Tanjiro Kamado, and the second, the Frost Hashira and Captain of Squad Ten, (Y/n) (L/n). The two of them continued to watch the two argue with the young boy, unsure as to how they should proceed, and moreover, the two still needed to figure out what Muichiro and Sajin wanted from this boy.

Tanjiro: What's going on? Are they fighting about something? What should we do? It'd be rude to eavesdrop. But if they are fighting, we should try to help, shouldn't we?

Suddenly though, Muichiro delivered a swift chop to the boy's neck, knocking him out and shocking everyone who witnessed it, even Sajin, who was completely shocked at what Muichiro did to the child in front of them. Unable to stand back and watch any longer after Muichiro struck the young boy, Tanjiro called out to the Mist Hashira to get his attention off the boy as he picked the child up.

Tanjiro: Stop it!!! (Runs out and grabs Muichiro's wrist) What are you doing!? Let him go!

Muichiro: There's no need to be so noisy. Who are you?

Tanjiro: How could you treat a kid like that!? You should-

Looking down at his hand, Tanjiro noticed that despite putting all of his effort into pulling Muichiro's hand off of the boy, the young Mist Hashira hadn't even budged an inch; it was like the young Hashira had completely planted his feet into the ground and stuck them there.

Tanjiro: He's not even budging! Even though he's got thinner arms and a smaller body than me!

Muichiro: (Coldly) You take your hands off of me.

In another swift motion, Muichiro quickly hit Tanjiro in the stomach with his elbow, causing the young demon slayer to keel over in pain. Seeing this, (Y/n) stepped out of the shadows to confront Muichiro and Sajin to see why they were in the Swordsmith Village, as well as for why they decided to go after this random kid and this strange doll thing.

(Y/n): (Walks out) Dammit, Tokito... Still don't know how others behave, do you?

Sajin: Captain (L/n)? What brings you here?

(Y/n): I could ask you the same thing, Captain Komomura. I thought you were taking care of a mission elsewhere.

Sajin: I was. However, my sword was damaged during combat, so I needed to travel here for repairs. I also wished to investigate something, and as luck would have it, Lord Tokito just so happened to be looking into the same thing.

Choosing to ignore (Y/n) and Sajin, Muichiro kept his attention focused on Tanjiro, who was left panting from pain and exhaustion after being hit with that devastating attack from someone who was so much younger than him.