CHOSEN DEMON

Though most may pay no mind to the stranger or perhaps even not notice him to begin with, Nezuko’s attention has remained on him for several minutes now, watching in silence at the young man who is seated upon the bench in the park. She isn’t sure what draws her to him. Maybe it’s the expression on his face or the slump of his posture.

Maybe it’s because he just looks so sad and deep in thought. 

Or maybe he’s just like her and is looking for someone important to him, too?

Regardless of why, the demon quietly approaches him, arm outstretched as she does the only thing that she can think of to offer some sort of comfort.

She’s been following him around for quite some time now, unsure of when she began or why she even chose this stranger in particular among the masses of others. And, really, there isn’t any certain reason why Nezuko targeted this stranger out, other than he had been the first person to catch her eye and with nowhere else to go and no sense of direction within the city, following behind someone like their own small shadow doesn’t seem like a bad way to try and learn her surroundings and it isn’t as if she’s going out of her way to remain hidden. If he notices her presence then that is fine and the same can be said for if he never does.

Well, this has gone about as well as he had expected. Still, she hasn’t lashed out at him, so as strange a girl as she is, as much as Rui still doesn’t understand why she feels so different from other demons – that’s… something, isn’t it? It has to be. She’s either suddenly opted to believe him (given his past experiences with that, doubtful) or she’s aware that that’s probably a bad priority to have when the world is falling apart around them.

“Yes, me,” he replies coolly, but before he can try to explain any further in as awkward an attempt as it would have been –

–“… ah?”

What’s she–huh? Huh?

It’s enough to genuinely wind him, his gaze falling to the way she’s shifted their hands, and though he knows it isn’t exactly like there’s some great meaning to it, it’s – different than –… it’s… Rui isn’t good with touch. Something like grabbing her wrist like he had isn’t exactly a kind gesture, not in the slightest, but that’s the point. It’s not something personal. But he’d call this actually holding hands, and it’s not something done with fear, and she’s –

Safe, she echoes at him.

“Nezu–”

Right, that’s… not for now. He has better things to do than to try to process this, and letting silly emotions get the better of him in the middle of something akin to an apocalypse is, undeniably, not very smart. So, uh, great. Okay. He’s – okay. Good.

“Do you–”

She has to be the same Nezuko, right? The Nezuko that he’d apologized to. Even if she isn’t, Rui supposes it doesn’t matter; he knows she can understand him to some extent. Standing in the street to have a conversation with her is rather counterproductive to his comment about it not being safe, so as he resumes talking, Rui starts to walk. They need to find somewhere safer, even if just for a moment.

(It’s more difficult than he’d like to admit to not just awkwardly tense up his hand in Nezuko’s.)

“–you want to protect humans… don’t you?”

Unlike Rui, Nezuko is no stranger to touch and she uses her actions far more than she does her words ❪ even now that she can actually speak them, though scarcely ❫ to express herself. Relies on them, even. A pat on the head for encouragement. A hug for comfort. Holding hands for guidance. She is always just as eager to receive as she is to give, spreading warmth and kindness to those she comes across, all traits she had as a human girl. All traits her brother carries strong on his shoulders, bared boldly to all who come into contact with him as well. It’s a strength and not a weakness, to trust and be trusted in return. To actively choose to be kind and compassionate. And touch isn’t something she’s ever been ashamed or afraid of, is never something that she has cared to reign in. And though she was initially wary the moment their hands interlocked she finds that her concern at trusting the other for the time being seems to slowly dissipate as they continue along their trek to safety. 

She glances his way when he begins to say her name, expression blank albeit curious as she remains oblivious to his internal struggle. And when his voice teeters off, she looks ahead once more and begins to absentmindedly swing their joined hands back and forth between them in a steady rhythm. When he finally finds his voice once more the demon tenses beside Rui, the question catching her off guard. She isn’t sure why he’s asking it-- she still believes that they are both of opposite opinions when it comes to the safety of humans. Nevertheless she does not let it deter her, only fixes the other with a determined stare, jaw tense. 

Nezuko’s vocabulary may be limited as she still relearns more words and phrases each day that she picks up on passing conversations but this word is one that she’s heard uttered countless times before. This is an easy word, an easy answer regardless of if it is the one he wants to hear.

❝ Will. ❞ She corrects him, eyes shining fiercely, voice passionate; as if challenging the other to disagree. And if he does then she has no qualms with putting an end to this silent cooperation that the two have currently going for them.

But then a loud noise to her left startles the demon and she quickly breaks her gaze from him in time to watch as a piece of the ground near her feet crumbles away in the midst of the chaos. Where she had been simply content with scuttling beside him quietly, Nezuko changes her pace and moves ahead, gives his hand another tug, silently urging him along quicker as she looks around once more, hopeful that he knows of a place they can get to. 

          @firebonds​.

… she isn’t who Rui’s expecting to see.

She’d been gone, hadn’t she? She’d been gone. She’d been here, for a time, and she had – Nezuko had left the city again. And yet… here – here she is. Why now? It’s weird that his heart pangs in his chest so instantly, a flood of worry bubbling up inside of him like she was his to worry about. Rui does’t know if it’s the same Nezuko… because the city can do that, too, can’t it? He’s heard talk of it, but he isn’t sure if it’s something he’s experienced.

It doesn’t matter. She’s not with Tanjirou. Rui doubts Tanjirou’s back, too, which just causes his heart to do whatever it’s doing again. And if Tanjirou’s not here –

– Rui wants to make things up to Nezuko, as it is. He knows he doesn’t deserve that, but that hardly matters right now. The city’s in shambles around them and he’s already decided who he’s siding with, so what’s a little more selfishness? He needs to make sure she’s okay.

He couldn’t forgive himself if he let her get hurt when he had the chance to stop it.

Hopping over the rubble (this isn’t like before, the last time he the city fell apart; this isn’t some strange flickering in-and-out, this is permanent, and Cotes shakes and crumbles around them), Rui closes the distance between the two of them and grabs a tight hold of Nezuko’s wrist.

“You can’t just stand there!”

His own tone of voice startles him. Rui sounds so concerned, so unlike himself.

“It isn’t safe.” He’s heard them, off in the distance; the damage that those who sided with NULL have been able to inflict isn’t something that can be easily missed. “You’re not safe out here.”

This isn’t exactly the kind of danger that she has grown accustomed to and it is obvious in the demon’s posture as she stands on unsteady feet, gaze darting left and right to take in the damage of the city as she ponders over her next move. So far she’s been unsuccessful in finding her brother or any of their companions and though her gut twists with worry over their well being, Nezuko also knows that she will be of no use to them if she is dead; that she must get herself to safety, if there even is such a place that can deemed as so. She’s always been able to rely on Tanjirou-- he has always made her safety his first priority-- but without his guidance she finds herself faltering, unaware of where to go or what to do. 

And it is then that she notices him, the spider demon. Lower Moon Five. 

❝ You. ❞ She echoes it back coldly.

She remembers the first time she ever met him, eyes narrowing and teeth baring only to give pause when their second meeting flits through her mind. How strange he had been. The words he had spoken. Friend, he had called her ❪ or perhaps it was what he had referred to himself as ❫... The memory paired with the increasing destruction of the area surrounding them is the only thing that stops Nezuko from reacting aggressively when he grabs for her wrist, his tone startling her just as well and the urgency in it is enough to halt her from yanking herself free from it. 

And though she is willing to trust him ❪ albeit for however briefly she may decide ❫ she does not like the power imbalance of his fingers around her wrist to just drag her behind him uselessly and so she stubbornly adjusts the grip, lowering her hand so that she can firmly wrap it around his own and give it a tug in unison with the nod she gives him to show that she understands.

He’s heard her name here at some point, hasn’t he? He needs to wrack his mind for it, in the hopes that it might do something, because why would he have cared enough to know it before? Someone’s said it, and he needs to remember, he needs to –

“Nezuko.”

There isn’t much she can do to him, he assumes, if she’s as weakened as he was when he first arrived. He could swipe his threads up and slice her fingers clean from her body if he wanted, but he ducks back instead, pulling the threads out of the way without waiting to see if they break first or she does. Nezuko’s claws swipe through the air, but Rui isn’t as flexible as he otherwise would have been and they catch his arms and break the skin.

“Calm down.”

He can’t harm her. He doesn’t want to hurt her. For her sake, for Tanjirou’s sake – because even if she’s lashing out at him like this, she doesn’t deserve any retaliation from him. His arms start to heal, but slowly.

Rui doesn’t even know if she can understand him.

It should be easy to say I won’t hurt you, but he still can’t. He can’t bring himself to say it. He can only hope that him not attacking back gives more of a message than any words he would awkwardly stammer out can. (He makes himself call his threads away, even if just having them out is a safety net. He feels suddenly very exposed.)

Though – maybe – if –

“F–friend. Friend! Alright?”

Her chest rises and falls unevenly in tandem with the deep breaths she takes, wound up so tightly that it’s almost painful yet she never breaks eye contact with the lower moon, glare never easing up even as a delicate brow lifts when he calls out her name. He’s strikingly different from how he had been the last time they’d met, the contrast from the then and now is striking-- he’d shown no mercy or hesitance when it came to attacking not only strangers but those he was acquainted with and even though she realizes it, it does nothing to dissipate her fury or caution. His blood is warm beneath her nails as they curl into the flesh of her palms in fists, nostrils flaring briefly as she exhales on a huff. 

His voice is stern, the demand echoing and this is the only moment where she hesitates, gaze shifting to echo her discomfort as the demon contemplates her next move. She doesn’t like being told what to do by him and she doesn’t want to listen but his lack of retaliation is making this difficult now. He isn’t trying to cause her pain; at least not yet. ❝ F... Frie... ❞

Nezuko has no reason to believe him when he calls himself a friend ❪ it could be a lie ❫  and yet she falters all the same. She can’t trust him, but if he won’t try harming her then she has no reason to lash out for the time being. She wishes her brother was here-- Tanjiro always knows what to do-- but they are alone and her only objective is to keep humans safe and so the decision that follows is an easy one to make. 

So, picture this. Imagine – right – imagine you’ve done a lot of really awful things. And then you die, and it’s fine, you had it coming, the world’s a better place without you. You end up in Hell, or something, you aren’t really sure, and the very person who killed you is here, and he’s a motherfucker, but that’s fine, you had it coming. Then – then – the people you hurt are here, and turns out, there are more and more each day, and you say to yourself, “perhaps I shall calmly walk away from this one before she notices me” and instead there is a very angry little demon girl now charging at you absolutely full-speed while you’re just trying to walk away and she’s caught up with you in no time. Anyway, that’s just a fun little thing to think about. Definitely not happening. And certainly not happening to anybody named Rui.

It’s fine. The only thing he could possibly do to make the situation worse would be turn around at the sound of tmp tmp tmp quickly approaching him with his threads at the ready in case she att–

“–listen, listen, girl–”

Except that’s exactly what he’s done.

“I’m not going to–” Threads, Rui. Threads. “– I don’t plan to–” Hurt you. Except it doesn’t look like it. Not remotely.

Her memories of him are crystal clear, flashing through her mind on repeat as she draws closer to him, air visible in the huffs that escape from her lips due to the cold while she bolts ahead. It really doesn’t take the demon long at all to reach the lower moon and while she could easily strike from behind, Nezuko pushes herself further in front of him, successfully making herself an obstacle in his path. To keep him away from whatever humans are far away behind her. Must protect humans.

She opens her mouth, intending to speak but all that escapes instead is an animalistic growl, fangs bearing as her body tenses-- poised and ready to pounce at the simplest of movements. 

      ✿ The name being called out, while of course familiar, takes the seeress a few moments in order to recognize that the person is, in fact, calling out to her. While it’s so apparent this body isn’t her own, not being called by her own name… Admittedly, it feels a little strange. However, the girl in her ‘new’ form slowly turns to meet the source of the exclamation, blinking for a moment as vivid, emerald hues glance the stranger over.

     ‘ … Nezuko… Nezuko?’ the name echoes in her head, unfamiliar to Yeul herself, but… Ah, yes; that must be it. Inosuke’s own memories… They must be surfacing. Which means that this girl in front of her… Is named ‘Nezuko’?

      ❝ … Ah, you… You know Inosuke? ❞ is all she can find herself saying for the time being, still a little unsure of how to proceed in a situation as bizarre as this. As suspicious as she tends to be of others, however… There is a pang within her chest as she stares at the girl before her now and it is one she has always felt with Caius… Namely, a feeling of great trust.

     ‘ This is… Inosuke’s friend. I can trust her.’

      ❝ I… Am not sure how to explain this, but… I am not him. We… Somehow, exchanged bodies. Does that make sense…? ❞

Wide, pink hues stare unblinking into the boy’s own emerald orbs, Nezuko’s brows scrunching together as she tries to make sense of the words leaving his lips, apprehension clouding her expression. She can’t quite understand what, exactly, the other is trying so desperately to convey-- can only address the person before her with a blank stare as they struggle behind an explanation. Though it looks exactly like Inosuke, the personality and mannerisms that they are possessing is startlingly different from the comrade she has come to know. Unsure of how to respond, she picks up on a few key words from the other and wastes no time in mimicking them, effort being put into grasping some sort of an understanding despite her limited vocabulary. ❪ Even if that wasn’t an issue, Nezuko would still be confused ❫.

❝ Inosuke? Not... ❞ It doesn’t sound quite right when she says it and so the demon tries again, ❝ Not Inosuke? ❞

Strange. 

The only thing she does know is that the expression of a friend is scrunched with discomfort and so she does what comes naturally to her, reaching up to place a gentle pat atop his head.

Though it takes her a moment longer to recognize him without the boar mask, the demon’s eyes light up all the same as she scurries after her target gleefully, reaching him in seemingly no time at all as his movements appear to be rather lethargic in comparison to the usual high-strung antics. His presence is often the first to make itself known even in a crowded room and yet had she not known him beforehand, for the first time in perhaps forever, the demon slayer would have easily blended in with those surrounding him littered among the path. Though it is admittedly strange to see him so seemingly quiet on the outside, Nezuko does not dwell, simply content with finding another friend in an unfamiliar place. 

His name comes easier to her than most of the rest-- he had all but seared it into her brain at the countless repeating of it, loud and demanding to be heard-- so she does not struggle when she opens her mouth, tone even rising several octaves for the occasion. 

❝ Inosuke! ❞

               ❝  OH, UHH—  ❞ that… was unexpected. why was she reaching for him like that? did she… need some help? she didn’t seem perturbed by his appearance in the slightest, which only raised more questions. uncertainty worried his features and, with a quick look left, then right to note none but himself, he raised a finger to his own chest quizzically. 

          hey, she could be waving her arms about at a bird or something, for all he knew.

Her gaze remains trained on him, wide and unblinking as the stranger hesitates, though Nezuko does not quiet understand that the other is doing so. Another gust of wind blows her hair wildly, the strands whipping against her face and the demon exhales through her nose at the disturbance before quickly crawling out of the box so that she can scurry towards the other to shield herself.

❝ Oh, ❞ she mimics the word as she draws nearer, reaching out to grasp at his cape.

“…”

Okay. Oh, no.

“Uh–”

You know what he’s just going to turn and go in the opposite direction it doesn’t matter that this street was the most direct path to where he was going bye Nezuko.

❝..!❞

               DID… did someone leave this child in a box, out in the cold, alone?

          he had some mild concerns.

Though his appearance may be peculiar, he does not give off the same aura as demons do and more importantly, there is something far more intriguing that catches Nezuko’s attention as the cold bites at her skin. 

Fire.

Just his cautious expression alone keeps the demon’s guard down-- if he intended to attack or harm he certainly would have done so by now. Uncertain of how to articulate the desperation for warmth, she does the only logical thing that she can think of and reaches out for the stranger expectantly.

After spending such a long time avoiding it, Nezuko finds herself enjoying the sun, often going out of her way to remain beneath it as much as possible even in spite of the cold that seems to nullify the rays that usually otherwise cast warmth upon her. The search for Tanjiro has been fruitless thus far, the demon finding herself getting more lost and confused as time passes; no closer to reaching her goal than she had been from the very beginning. 

The amount of snow makes it difficult to maneuver to top things off, eyes squinting and legs struggling as she takes note of how much weaker she has felt ever since her arrival. But even so, Nezuko won’t stop until she finds her brother, her determination and stubbornness both a blessing and, perhaps, in some ways a curse. 

A flash of movement ahead does not go unnoticed by her as her gaze narrows sharply, teeth bearing and guard going up immediately in case she has found herself under threat. Ready to pounce at any moment if need be, it luckily does not take long for the tension to suddenly escape from her quickly as soon as the figure comes into full view, a smile breaking out across her face now that she has ran into yet another ally.

The demon frolics after him with a newfound glee and strength, only stopping when she has finally caught up to Giyuu, blocking him from moving ahead.

❝Thank...❞

“Nezuko-chan here by her lonesome without Kamado-kun in sight…” Without her brother, she was as good as a sitting duck. With no real way to communicate properly, she would have a hard time making her way through this city. Thus does Shinobu tap her chin in thought for a brief moment before settling to take on the responsibility of her until Tanjiro was here. If he was ever here, that is. She’s still not entirely sure why any of them were brought to this city but for now, it’d probably be best to just grin and bear it.

“Have you been here long? Nod for yes and shake your head for no, of course.” It’s best to start with simple questions.

@firebonds​

Though she may be used to waking up in strange places, Tanjiro has always made certain that there is always someone else beside her so that she was never on her own. That was what had set the alarms off in her head the most and everything following her arrival had been mostly just a blur up until she ran into the pillar standing before her, chest suddenly light at the familiar face.

The relief floods over her-- certainly her brother is not far behind!-- and she makes haste to close more of the distance between the two, tugging at Shinobu’s sleeve in a silent request that the other lead Nezuko to him. The demon shakes her head at the question and while she has a lot of things that she wishes she could say, ❪ speaking is still very new for her and thus the girl is unable to figure out how to articulate them; how to string her thoughts all together ❫ there is but one word from the pillar in particular that sticks out to her more than the rest.

❝L-Lo...❞ She struggles, voice hoarse from lack of use, tongue feeling heavy in her mouth as she pauses before trying again.