|·Idiots With Swords·| Inosuke X Reader

2

I nod grimly at Tanjirou as we all charge into the forest. "Good luck!"
"You too!" He calls back as he swerved right into the bushes.
As everyone else vanishes into the underbrush, I take to the trees like I used to back in training with Sanemi. I pivot off of one tree and into the branches of another.
In the distance, the battle cries begin. Many of which falling short into silence. The demons have begun to attack.
I glance down and am face to face with another participant. His dark hair kept short and shaved on the sides. His angry eyes instantly remind me of Sanemi. That's when it hits me. This is his brother, Genya.
The ground shakes as we maintain eye contact and a large demon comes barreling towards us. I reach down and pull him up by the collar of his shirt.
"Hey what the fuck!" He shouts in protest.
I clamp a hand over his mouth as the demon stomps a crater into where he just was and continues on his way.
"Who the fuck do you think you are?" He hisses at me as he slaps my hand away.
"(Y/n) Ubuyashiki. I trained under your brother." I explain quietly.
The boy's voice falls to a whisper and he looks at me with wide eyes, "Nemi?"
I nod, "yes. Consider this a favor from him okay. I'm not going to be able to save you all night, understand?"
He nods after a second, "I don't need your protection, Ubuyashiki."
"It wasn't my protection. It was his. Stay away from the demons if you can. I'll buy you time." I instruct bluntly. Before he can protest, I slash the palm of my hand with my sword and leap into another tree. I learned a while ago that I have a rare blood type that drives demons crazy like catnip would to a cat. And I can use this to my advantage here.
As i leave traces of my blood on the trees, I can feel the rumble of demons coming for me from far away.
Suddenly, a large demon leaps towards me from below, and I spin in midair to avoid it. This is it. I can destroy this thing right now.
"Breath of Wind- Seventh Form: Sudden Gusts!" I say to myself. I leap up into the air and swing around my sword. Strong currents of air move forward and the demon falls apart before turning to dust where it landed.
My eyes widen in surprise. That was the first time I've killed a demon.. Even before, I've only seen others do it.
I don't have time to celebrate when i realize that nearly a dozen demons watch and surround me closely.
"Marachi .." One mumbles as she stumbles towards me, sparking others to try to close in.
"Breath of Wind.. Sixth Form: Black Wind Mountain Mist." I mutter under my breath. I swing my sword around and i swing my body in a circular motion. As I turn, a wall of wind swirls around me and tears the demons apart where they stand. As they crumble at my feet I grin to myself. "Yeah! Come get some!"
"Help me I don't want to die!!"
I wince as I hear someone scream from about a mile away. The vibrations of his shrill voice reverberate off the trees and then back to me giving me his exact location.
Without a second to spare, i run towards him. Leaping over fallen participants and demons alike to get to him. Based on his screams, he is in trouble, big trouble. Normally this wouldn't really be my problem, but I don't know it's Tanjirou or Sanemi's brother or anyone else I know for that matter. Subconsciously I speed up until I spot who was making the noise.
A boy my age, dressed in bright yellow, of all colors, in crouched by the foot of a tree, his arms protecting his head and neck. A tall demon is hunched over him with a wicked grin on its mutated face. Its dark green skin is enough to make me want to turn around and leave but I don't. So i speed up and leap into the monster. My legs pushing it away from the boy who is still screaming.
"Oi. Shut up." I warn with a hiss. "Your screaming is bringing more attention towards you, you damn coward."
He looks up at me, tears and snot dripping down his face in a disgusting array of cowardess. "A queen has come to save me! No, an angel!"
"Shut the fuck up before I kill you myself." I threaten, keeping my back towards him and my sword at the ready.
The demon stands back up from where it landed and charges towards me with a low battle cry. I take a step forward and scream back with just as much ferocity, and slice off its head when it gets within range. The head bounces for a moment before it turns to ash along with the rest of its body.
"Thank you! Whats your name? Is it Sharon?" The boy blubbers gratefully.
I narrow my eyes at him, "no."
"Oh you're a life saver, Sharon. An apsolute angel!" He gushed as he klung to my kimono.
"Whatever." I mutter under my breath. "Look, I'm not gonna protect you here. My protection has been promised to someone else." When he looks horrified, I rub the bridge of my nose and sigh. "Okay, fine. If you can keep up with me, then I'll make sure you at least survive."
His face lights up, "thank you Sharon!"
"That's not my name." I roll my eyes, "it's (y/n) Ubuyashiki, feel free to forget it."
"I'm Zenitsu! Its so cool how you didn't hesitate to save little ol' me!!" He responds but as soon as a branch snaps to our right, he yelps and hides behind me. "Protect me!!"
I sigh distainfully, "stop being so weak or I will kill you my damn self, last warning."
He squeaks nervously, "so pretty yet so cruel!"
"Thanks." I grumble as I feel a rumble below me. The annoyance instantly drips from my person and I shift into a fighting stance. "Quick. Climb to the trees."
"What why?" He questions nervously.
I elbow him in the chest, still on high alert. "Did I fucking stutter? Get to the trees. Now!"
Zenitsu yelps and immediately scrambles up to a tree as the rumbling grows louder and the ground begins shaking. The ground cracks open and I see a gargantuan hand burst from the grass. "What the hell is that?!" He screams as he climbs faster.
I jump and climb the tree as its head emerges, glowing eyes locking on me. "A demon, you idiot!" I retort as I grab his collar and pull him with me. "Get on my back or die! This things gonna follow us and you're too slow!"
He nods and clings to my back tightly as I jump from tree to tree as quickly as possible. As i suspected, the demon tears down the trees easily and it drags itself towards us.
Mobility is twice as hard while I'm carrying another person with me, but I'm already involved and I don't need the death of this person on my conscience. The demon swings its arm towards me and I just narrowly dodge the attack. "Shit shit shit shit.." I curse under my breath. "You better be holding on back there!"
Zenitsu screams in response. What a fucking coward.
"I'm taking you to the top of a tree. Once I drop you off, keep climbing and stay there until dawn." I command as I dodge another attack. I spot a very tall tree in the distance and immediately head towards it. This is as good as its gonna get, so I'm going to take this opportunity. I stomp down on the ground and aside from the demon at my heels, I'm completely fine. Skidding around the corner, I toss Zenitsu up into the branches and he starts climbing like his ass is on fire. "I'll lead it away! Stay there!"
As he nods, he vanishes into the branches. Good. Now I don't have another life depending on me. This means i can go all out. I pull out my sword and reopen the wound on my hand bringing up new blood.
The demon roars in a frenzy and immediately gets faster. "Come and get me then!" I laugh mockingly as I too begin running faster. Once I have solidified a plan, I make my move. I slow down a hair and as the demon reaches for me, I swing my sword around and the head of the beast comes straight off.
I skid out of the way to avoid its body which turns to dust before it hits the ground.
"Help! Help me!"
I grimace as I hear the blood curdling screams from a girl a little ways to my right. Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me.. Against my internal wishes, I give in. Instantly, I'm moving towards her. But I'm not prepared for what I see once i get there. A girl a little younger than me is covered in her own blood and sobbing violently as a demon circles her with a grin on his face.
When I see the look of terror on her face, I act without thinking. "Oi! Pick on someone your own size!"
The girl slowly turns to face me and shakes her head frantically. "Get away from here!" She warns with a shaking voice, but the command isn't there. She doesn't want to die here tonight.
"Oh, a marechi!" The demon coos, the grin becoming wider and more hungry looking by the second. "My favorite."
I break into a wide confident grin dispite my opponent. "Dawn is approaching, moron. So fight me now, or get lost." As the demon starts circling me, I am slowly moving to stand in front of the girl. I whisper to her, my grin still in place. "What's your name?"
"..Yoruba.." She whispers back to me, shaking like a leaf in the wind.
"I'm (y/n). I'll get you out of here." I declare softly. "Can you walk?"
She looks down at her legs for a moment and nods, "..yes.. I think so.."
"Good. When I say 'run', run. Don't stop until you get back to the wisteria trees." I command, my eyes never leaving the demon who is getting closer to us.
He tilts its head to the side, "I'm gonna eat you alive.."
"That's nice." I sneer as I cut my forearm. "Come get me then! I dare you!" I beckon him towards me with a wave of my arms and he falls for it. He clambors over himself to get at me and as soon as he's close, I take off away from Yoruba. "Run!" I whisper to her.
She nods and immediately runs away.
The demon is still hot on my heels and nearly reaches me several times, but he seems to just be messing around. "Fast food!"
I lead him on a wild goose chase until I see my opportunity and take a step into the sun. This idiot follows me and instantly turns to dust. "Thanks for the challenge." I say with a smirk.
After I catch my breath, I begin my journey back to the wisteria trees. It's not glorious or anything like I expected it would be. Hell, I don't even feel as glorious as I thought I would feel, I just feel tired. But this is different. It feels like a walk of death. I see half eaten corpses littering the ground but I don't gag. I try and keep my eyes straight ahead, but thats when I fall still.
A few yards from the wisteria trees, I spot Yoruba. She is bloody, and broken, and.. Wrong. Her eyes already glazed over, her body still and growing cold.
I walk over and take the bracelet from her wrist and fasten it to my arm. "I'm.. I'm sorry I couldn't help you more." I say grimly and I close her eyes with my fingers. "But you made it. You lasted until dawn.. And you're a demon slayer.."
Its hard leaving her body there, but I've seen the dead before. Its not like I can carry her with me, I know that, but it never gets any easier to handle.

There were only five of us who made it through the night. Tanjirou, Zenitsu, Genya, Shinobu's little sister, and me. I feel a pang in my chest when I remember Inosuke was also supposed to be here. That pig-headed moron.. I definitely felt his presence throughout the night, but then he just vanished the very second the sun broke the horizon.
"Welcome back. Congratulations. Being safe and sound is better than anything else." Kanata and Kiriya greet, the same smiles on their faces, but the relief in their eyes when the see me is almost enough to make me collapse where I stand.
The look of panic on Zenitsu's face however, nearly makes me sick. "We'll die. We'll die. We'll die. We'll die. We'll die. Even if we survived, we'll still die in the end!"
I roll my eyes and that's when Genya speaks up. "Eh? Now what do I do? What about the blade," he asks rudely.
I have half a mind to slap him when my siblings speak up again. "You must first pay the cost of the uniform. Then you must get your body measured and have your rank engraved. There are ten ranks in total. Kinoe, Kinoto, Hinoe, Hinoto, Tsuchinoe, Tsuchinoto, Kanoe, Kanoto, Mizunoe, Mizunoto. You are now at the lowest 10th level, Mizunoto."
"What about the blade?" Genya presses for an answer.
Kanata answers calmly, "today, you will each choose a chunk of tamahagane alloy. Your blade will be completed in 10 to 15 days." She brings her hands to her chest. "Also, from now on, kasugaigarasu will be following you all."
Several crows desend onto us, a crow landing on my shoulder softly. I reach up and scratch just under its beak.
"Wait, this is a sparrow!" Zenitsu complains as he looks at the small bird perched on his arm.
"Kasugaigarasu is a crow that is primarily used for communication." Kiriya said with his usual smile, completly ignoring the blond.
That's when Genya snaps and goes completely feral. He slaps his crow away from him, who instantly flutters to my other shoulder, feathers ruffled, dark eyes more offended than anything. "I don't care about some dumb crow!" He lunges forwards and grabs onto Kanata's hair with his fist. "What i want is the blade! Give me the blade right now! The blade of the demon killing corps.! The color changing blade!"
"Let go of her right now!" Both Tanjirou and I shout.
Tanjirou lunges forwards and grabs onto Genya's arm tightly. "If you don't I'll break your arm!"
"Huh? Who are you? You can try if you dare!" Genya challenged.
I hear a snap and instantly I have Kanata pulled towards my chest in a protective manner. My other arm flies out in front of Kiriya who stares blankly ahead. "Are you okay?!" I ask in hushed panic as I wipe the blood from her chin with my sleeve. Her face is bruised and she looks like she is still in shock. "I will fucking kill you with my bare hands, so help me gods.." I turn slowly to Genya who is cradling his arm to his chest. "You're lucky i saved you back there out of respect for your brother, but I swear you're dead meat out here in the real world!"
"Oh yeah?!" Genya challenged with a wince.
"Lets go then! Right now!" I hiss, balling my fists and glaring at him.
Tanjirou nudged my arm with his elbow, "..Ubuyashiki.. Please."
"Are you done?" Kiriya asks after a moment once I calm down again.
"Sorry.." I mumble, Kanata still in my grasp.
"Please go over there and choose the alloy that will get used to create your blade." He said calmly despite anger pooling behind his eyes. "The alloy for the blade that will be used to destroy demons and protect yourself... Will be chosen personally by each of you."
"I'll probably die really quickly.." Zenitsu mumbles earning an angry chirp from his sparrow.
My crow nips at my hair in a friendly manner while Genya's is still uneasily perched on my other shoulder. I reach over and smooth its feathers with my fingers. "Come find me if he acts out like that again." I say softly. "I'm more of an animal person anyways!"
We all choose our ore from the table and I sit back and watch everyone else leave back to their homes. I think it was hardest seeing Genya's crow leave to be honest.
"(Y/n)!" Kanata and Kiriya say brightly, abandoning their calm composure from just 15 minutes prior.
I hold my arms wide and they both charge in close to me, my arms pulling them close to my chest. "You two were great! So calm under pressure!"
They giggle and Kiriya grins up at me, "not at great as you were!"
I hoist him up onto my back and pull his sister up onto my hip, my crow balanced onto my head. "Come on guys. Your dad is waiting for us back at the manor. Let's go!"