Pretty - 鬼滅の刃 - 嘴平 伊之助 x OC (hiatus)

18

While Inosuke, Inoka and Tanjiro were fighting the demons, Inoka felt one of the threads tighten around the neck of the demon slayer she was charging towards.

Her eyes widened.

She quickly grabbed the slayer's neck and her body, but with a resounding crack, the demon slayer's neck, along with the other slayer's, snapped.

Inoka's strength wasn't enough to save her.

The impact flung Inoka across the clearing, and her back hit the rough bark, as she coughed out a mouthful of blood from the impact.

"Fuck! Inoka! Are you alright?" Inosuke screamed, dashing towards her and picking her up in his arms.

"W-why couldn't I s-save her...? I-I'm so u-useless... I can't even s-save a measly puppet, h-how am I s-supposed to s-save y-you?" Inoka murmured, eyes pooled with tears.

Inosuke's eyes widened.

"That's what I'm supposed to be saying... Because I couldn't protect you, you're hurt again... First the wound in that house, and now I swear I felt something crack... You can't be hurt when I'm around. You can't. I won't allow it. I w-won't allow i-it..." Inosuke started to tremble.

Tanjiro, seeing this scene, began to shake in anger.

The boars sensed a cold, dreary aura start to emanate from the demon slayer and they flinched.

"K-Kamaro?" Inoka stuttered out in fear and confusion.

"It's nothing, let's go." Tanjiro said darkly and abruptly stood up.

"Yeah..." Inosuke said, eyes wide.

They trodded down the path, but Inoka could sense two different beings from here.

"W-woah, that thing doesn't have a head! how the hell are we supposed to defeat the thing?! There are no weak points!"

"Let's slice it down diagonally from the right to under the armpit! It's a broad area though, so it might be a little challenging-"

Tanjiro didn't get to finish his words as Inosuke charged the the demon.

Suddenly, in the blink of an eye Inosuke was riddled with shallow cuts.

"Inosuke!"

"Don't worry, I'm fine."

"Who the hell said I was worried about you?"

"I can smell the worry off of you, Inoka-"

"Shut up Gonpachiro!"

Suddenly, threads from the spiders ensnared Inosuke, and he was trapped.

The demon slowly took aim and raised its sword, but Inoka rushed there just in time to parry the attack.

Both of her swords were grinding against the demon, but it didn't seem like it would be enough.

"Why am I so weak?!" Inoka shrieked and used all her strength to fling the sword out of the demon's hands.

Tanjiro quickly yelled at Inosuke to jump on his back and use him as a springboard, and after Inosuke was launched into the air he quickly struck down and sliced down how Tanjiro told him to.

With a sickening squelch, the demon was cleanly cut down the torso.

"Yeah! You're so amazing Inosuke! You did it!" Inoka cheered, boosting that boy's ego.

"Of course! I'm the great Inosuke! King of the mountains!" Inosuke yelled, grinning under his boar mask.

Suddenly, Inosuke threw Tanjiro into the air.

From that viewpoint, Tanjiro spotted the puppeteer, but thoroughly defeated her after she didn't try to stop him from killing her.

"Why didn't that old hag fight back?" Inoka asked, confused.

"Sometimes, death can be a better choice than living." Tanjiro sadly muttered.

He shot one last glance at the female demon, but suddenly, on her last breaths, she shrieked "There's a twelve demon moon here! Please be careful...!"

Inosuke playfully bantered with Tanjiro, and as Inoka watched on, her gaze drifted over all of Inosuke's wounds; severe, bloody messes.

She quickly reached into her pocket and took out a paste given by the kind obaa-chan at the wisteria house.

"Ino-Ino! Come over here for a sec."

"Wait a second! I'm trying to prove that I'm better than stupid Monjiro!" Inosuke yelled, not sparing a glance.

Exasperated, Inoka trudged up to him and grabbed his arm, staring him straight in the eyes.

She took off their masks, and threw them on the ground while he was in a shocked stupor.

"W...What are you doing?!" Inosuke stuttered out, blushing.

Inoka didn't say anything, and smushed his cheeks together.

"...?!?" Inosuke squirmed.

"Shut up and stop moving for a second. You're bleeding." Inoka ordered, while still smooshing his cheeks.

She took out the paste and started smothering it all over his body, roughly and coarsely, not caring if he felt pain or not.

Inosuke started to blush even harder after he felt her feeling up his torso and arms.

"What are you doing, woman?!" Inosuke yelled, in a frenzy.

"Shut up." Inoka deadpanned without looking up, spreading some green paste on his back.

'Even if it hurts this idiot deserves it.' Inoka thought.

After she was done applying it, the surroundings smelled like lavenders and roses.

"Haha, you smell like a garden." Inoka giggled.

"Shut up woman! This is your fault!" Inosuke yelled.

'Actually, I wouldn't mind that happening for a bit longer...'

Meanwhile, Tanjiro was thinking about how pitiful that poor demon was.

'I could feel the hurt in her eyes, fueling her death wish... What happened to cause that?'

(Next chapter, we'll have a wild Zenitsu fighting a spider demon hehe)