| 𝘚𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘈𝘣𝘺𝘴𝘴 | t. kamado

Chapter 4

- Reader's P.O.V -

After hours of walking, I finally arrived at the village Ankoku led me to. With a shaky breath, I looked around the village, trying to ease my nerves. I didn't know what to expect from my first mission, and the unknown scared me. I walked through the village, weaving through people. I looked towards the sky to try and find my crow, hoping to get more information, but he was nowhere to be found. I sighed and brushed my fingers through my hair. I didn't really want to resort to this, but it looks like I'm going to have to talk to the the townspeople.

Looking around, I tried to find the most approachable person here. The last thing I needed was an awkward conversation. As I was looking through the crowd, my eyes landed on my savior, and I swore at that moment a god looked me in the eyes and said you're welcome. I speed walked over towards the person and cupped my hands over my mouth to project my voice. "Hey, Tanjiro!" I waved and picked up my pace.

He searched for whoever called his name and he locked eyes with me. He gave me a warm smile and waved back. "Hello, [Y/N]-chan!" He walked over to where I was. "I didn't expect to see you here. Are you on a mission here as well?"

"Yep, I am. Honestly, I'm so glad you showed up. I was not up for the idea of asking people for information by myself." I laughed. I noticed a large box on his back. It gave off a weird vibe, but I didn't question him about it. I'm probably just being paranoid since it's my first mission.

Tanjiro looked around at his surroundings. "Do you think anyone here knows what's been going on?"

"I mean, I'd assume so. It's hard to not notice younger girls disappearing." I stated.

"Haha, I guess you're right." He said sheepishly. "Oh?" He said, looking ahead of him.

"What is it?" I asked, following his gaze. Ahead of us was a man walking solemnly down the pathway. His face was beaten up. "Should we go talk to him?"

"Yea, I think we should. He might know something." With that, Tanjiro started walking towards him. I followed behind him. We both stopped in front of the man and Tanjiro got his attention. "Excuse me, my name's Tanjiro Kamado. This is [Y/N] [L/N]." Tanjiro introduced. "Do you know anything about the missing girls?"

The man's eyes widened. "I'm Katsumi. And yes, I do." He said sadly. "My fiancée, Satoko, was taken." He looked back down at the ground again.

"Could you please take us to where she vanished?" I asked the man. He slowly nodded and turned around. "It's this way."

Tanjiro and I followed Katsumi into an alleyway a couple blocks away from our initial location. "This is where Satoko vanished. You may not believe me."

"We do believe you." Tanjiro assured. I gave Katsumi a smile, showing him that I'm on his side. My gaze shot back over to Tanjiro as he dropped down to the ground. Was he...sniffing the ground? "Um, Tanjiro? You okay down there?" I asked, giving him a weird look.

Tanjiro ignored me and continued on with whatever he was doing. "There's still a faint trace of demon scent, but it's uneven. There's something strange about this." He spoke aloud. It sounded like he was talking more to himself than to us.

"What's strange?" I asked him. I tried smelling the air but came back with nothing. Maybe the ground smells like a demon? I wasn't about to test that theory, so I'll just stick to whatever Tanjiro says.

"I'm not sure, but we should keep checking other places." This time, Tanjiro was the one leading us around the village. Periodically, he would sniff around again. It didn't bother me too much at first, but then we got to the more populated places. As Tanjiro did his thing, people were giving us weird stares and whispering to each other. I stared at the ground. This was really embarrassing. Does he have no shame? I was debating telling Tanjiro I'm going to go check somewhere else, just so I can get away from their eyes, but I was too nervous to say anything.

-

After a couple more hours, night fell and almost everyone was indoors, especially girls. "Umm, excuse me." Tanjiro and I looked back at Katsumi, waiting for him to continue. " I'm flattered that you're concerned for me, but shouldn't you pick up again tomorrow and get some rest?" He asked and then gestured over towards me. "Also, I don't think it's safe for you to be out right now, considering the circumstances."

Tanjiro and I smiled at him. "I appreciate your concern, but I think we'll hold up just fine. We can't afford to rest." I said politely. I looked over at Tanjiro, he seemed alert. "I've detected a new scent in this area. It's gotta be nearby." With this he ran off, leaving me and Katsumi behind.

"Hey, wait up!" I called, running after him. "What's gotten into you all of the sudden?" Katsumi asked while following behind us, trying to keep up.

"[Y/N]! The scent got stronger! The demon is at large!" Tanjiro yelled back at me. He jumped up onto a rooftop. I hesitated a moment, wondering if it would be safe to leave Katsumi on the ground, but the demon has only gone after girls so far, so I assume he's safe. With this, I leaped up next to Tanjiro, matching his speed. We jumped down and landed in another alleyway. Tanjiro stopped in the middle of it, drawing his sword. I stood next to him and unsheathed my sword as well. "There's two scents, a demon and a female human." Tanjiro told me. I nodded at him and held my sword out in front of me.

After a couple of seconds, nothing happened. I turned towards Tanjiro to ask if he smelled anything. He was staring at the ground, pointing his sword downwards. He drove his sword into the ground and a splash of murky, black water came up. He plunged his hand into the hole, pulling out a girl. Following the girl out of the hole was a hand, and then a head.

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Word count: 1060