[ Another chapter I didn't had enough time to correct mistakes, sorry! T^T ]

       •────────✦❅✦────────•

I'm so tired….

B̴̙͓͌͝ȕ̵͜t̴̗͐̾ ̴̖̀̅ÿ̶̧́̔͜o̸̭͊̕u̷̝̥̿ ̸̘̔̕c̵̣̈́͠á̵̝ń̴̯͍'̷͔̘͆̓t̶̗̱̒ ̴͍̓r̷̼̟͐e̶̬̚s̵͇͌t̶͔̍͝ ̸̖̎͐ý̶͓̽e̴̡͊t̶̠̊̈́͜,̶̗͆́ ̸̲̓Ỹ̶̳/̵̛̰̟͂N̵̞̦̊.̵̫͆̀
̸̡̪̂
̵͓́̅W̸̡̫͗a̴̲̓̉k̸̩̍e̷͖̾ ̵̟̄͜ǘ̷̲͙͛p̷̟̋,̷͓͇̐͌ ̶̘́y̷̢̘̏o̸̘͔̍u̸̬͌'̶̺͛r̶̗͂̕e̶͉̙͆ ̸̹̪̄̉s̵̨̱͂t̵͉̒͗ḯ̸͕̯l̷̎̓ͅl̷̮̦̾ ̸̖͋͠f̵͔͗͑ͅà̵͔r̶̝͘ ̷̻͑f̴͖̈́r̵̢̈́o̵̪̮̒̇m̷̦͒͠ ̴̙̐ŷ̸͕̲̃o̵̩͆ů̵̻͠r̷̛̻̫͝ ̴͕̈́h̸̭̐a̷͈̦̿p̸̧̊ṗ̵͙ͅŷ̷̬̝ ̷̦͚̈͌e̷̝͑n̷̘̓̈́ḍ̵̏́i̴̝̕ṅ̷̨̜̎g̵̠̯̀.̸̨͐̃͜

.

.

“Ughh-” Y/N exasperatedly sat up, only to feel an excruciating pain in her shoulder. “Fuck!” She grabbed her arm.

“That's the first thing you say when you wake up? What a dirty mouth.” Y/N immediately recognized Shinobu's gentle voice, her tense muscles relaxing.

“W-What happened?” She managed to blurt out, noticing her hoarse voice, Shinobu quickly handed her a cup with water.

“You got into an unlucky encounter with the demon.” She commented while the girl on the bed gulped down the liquid.

“Phew! I see-” Y/N stopped talking as soon as the memories of the previous night hit her.

'That's right, Hiro and Ichika… both are gone.'

She clenched her fists.

Smile.

Pretend that you're fine.

“Kota and Yuki were very traumatized with the incident and didn't want to talk, and since you weren't waking up due to the blood loss, we had a very hard time figuring out what to do.” Shinobu said, crossing her arms with a sigh, the bags under her eyes were even worse than last time.

“I'm… sorry?”

“That's right, you should say that you're sorry! I won't judge you for willingly drinking my poison since it was the best option you got in the hands, but stabbing yourself?” Shinobu approached her, smiling. “You were at a good enough proximity to actually decapitate the demon, why you would do such a stupid thing?”

'…. If I decapitated him with my breathing style, he would go to heaven. I would rather die 500 times than allowing that.' Is what Y/N thought.

“Sorry, I was too exasperated at the time and wasn't thinking properly.” But she just blurted out a random excuse instead.

“… Do you want to hear about the wound in your shoulder??” Shinobu suddenly exclaimed with a faked excited voice.

“H-huh?”

“The flesh was all scraped off, I could even see your bones, haha!”

“Why do you sound so-”

'I forgot that the happier Shinobu looks, the madder she is-' Y/N thought, the familiar goosebumps starting to appear again, the fighting spirit really was seeing her as a threat now?!

“Spare your anger for later, Shinobu-san! Y/N is currently still a patient!” Rengoku approached them, patting Y/N's head.

“Kyojuroo-!” She said with her eyes sparkling, tears of relief starting to form in her eyes.

“…. You say this like I would actually hit her…” Shinobi said with a pout, her cheeks dusted in pink as her eyes browns were furrowed in pure disappointment.

“Uh- Sorr-” Y/N was about to apologize, but Shinobu turned back to her with her scary aura already back, the girl immediately froze in place from fear.

“Of course, I would never hurt someone in such serious condition, but we have an evil promise breaker here!” Shinobu approached her with a big smile.

'T-that's right, I promised to her that I wouldn't do something stupid and get hurt-'

“You remember what I said, right? If you break the promise, you will be punished! After you get better, I will tie you to a tree branch upside down! You will have a first-hand experience of how the bats sleep!”

“Nooooo!-” Y/N screamed in panic and hugged the first thing in her reach, with happened to be Giyuu.

Though, she had forgotten that her shoulder was currently seriously hurt and immediately felt the sharp pain. “AAGHJDKSHS-” She squirmed around on the bed in response, making weird pained noises.

“Idiot.” Giyuu frowned.

“Idiot.” Shinobu shook her head with a sigh.

“Y/N has a lot of personality! Haha!” That's just a nicer way of calling her an idiot, Kyojuro.

“Wait!” Y/N suddenly stopped squirming and sat up again. “Yuki and Kora, how are they? Are they fine?”

“Yeah… but they are having a very hard time right now, I don't think this is a good time to talk to them.” Shinobu commented.

They then proceeded to explain the details of what happened while Y/N was out.

Since Yuki wasn't aware that you weren't supposed to remove the object if you happen to be stabbed with it, Y/N ended falling into a temporary coma from a combination of the blood loss and the poison she drank.

Since Shinobu already knew perfectly what her poison is composed of, It was easy to make an antidote to it, the hard part was to handle the blood loss.

Y/N slept only for three days thanks to her quick regeneration, Yuki and Kota were too scared to talk and didn't say a single word for two days, they were only able to calm the two enough to talk yesterday.

They explained what happened to Shinobu and others, and were asked to keep a secret of the 'demon' and tell the adults they were all attacked by a bear instead.

Though it was a bit suspicious for the villagers, there was no doubt that Y/N saved the kids and Shinobu saved the entire village, so they didn't inquire much about the details. I guess it was only because they were just some orphans after all.

Ichika's body was buried in a far away corner of the garden behind the temple, Hiro's body was nowhere to be found, they did make a grave for him at least, though since the demon consumed him, he won't even have a proper burial, how sad.

“Just rest for today, okay?” Shinobu said, patting her head. “We will just finish wrapping up some things around here, and then we will leave. I will be able to take better care of you in the butterfly mansion.”

Y/N weakly nodded in response. “Don't worry, I know that as soon as you reunite with your three loud friends, you will feel better instantly!" It was Kyojuro's turn to pat her head now.

Well, he did was right, though Zenitsu, Tanjiro and Inosuke were almost always screaming and fighting, they did were great people who kind of made you feel refreshed around.

The three left the room with the intention of letting Y/N rest, and well, she did lay down, but jumped off the bed again after some seconds. 'AKAZA! I FORGOT ABOUT HIM!'

'I PROMISED I WOULD SEE HIM AGAIN SO I WOULD TELL THE DETAILS OF HIS HUMAN LIFE, BUT THE DEMON ENDED UP APPEARING AND ALL THE COMA-THING HAPPENED-'

Y/N raised her arms to grab her hair, once again forgetting about the wound in the shoulder and feeling a terrible pain. “DBKABALAAK-” And she squirmed around on the bed once again while making weird noises again.

“Pssshhh!”

“Huh?” She stopped squirming when she noticed the odd noise coming from outside the window.

Using all of her strength to leave the bed and stand up (though her legs were wobbling like cooked noodles.) She confusedly walked up to the window, silently pushing the curtains aside to see however was calling her.

“Huh? Kota? Yuki?” The two kids were standing outside.

“Y/N!!” Yuki jumped in her arms, making both harshly fall back inside the room.

“Ugh-”

“Oh! I'm so sorry, I forgot you were hurt!” The kid said, exasperatedly, letting of Y/N.

“It's…. okay…. You guys saved my life three days ago, so I owe you two a lot.”

“Yeah. You're right.” Kota commented, silently entering the room through the window.

“We came to see if you're okay! We heard everyone talking inside here and decided to verify!” Yuki said.

“I see, thank you.” Y/N smiled.

“How are you feeling?” Kota asked.

'like shit.' Y/N thought. “A lot better!” She said instead, smiling brightly.

“Uhh-” She leaned over to look at the outside, yep, the moon was already up, so there's a chance Akaza is still there. Since she and the others will have to leave in a few days, she has to wrap up the things with him as quick as possible.

“Guys, I know that I'm not exactly in a position to ask for favors, but can you help me sneak out?” She asked.

“Huh? But you're sick, aren't you?”

“Yeah, but there are some things I need to do-”

“Like what?” Kota crossed his arms.

“… Do you remember the good-stalker-ghost?” Y/N asked.

“Huh?"

“I kinda made a promise with him before, I would like to fulfill it before me and the others leave.” She ended just telling the truth, there was no way they would help out otherwise.

Basically, what they did was : Do the very basic and cliché strategy of putting pillows under Y/N's blanket to make it look like someone was laying there, and since they knew the ways around the temple very well, help her sneak out by going on a path where hardly any people went through.

“Y/N, are you sure? I think it's going to rain pretty soon.” Yuki asked, staring at the sky with a frown.

“I will end it quickly.” She said, patting both of the kid's heads before leaving.

Said and done, Y/N soon felt the cold water drop lets hitting her skin while she was still on half of the way to the cave Akaza generally took cover.

'Shit- I can't let the curative get wet-' She thought, frowning while trying her best to run faster, though with her current state, she would probably even lose to a snail on a race.

The rain started to get stronger. 'Shit shit shit shit-'

And she finally reached the cave. “I'm- here! Ugh-”

“Oi-?!” Akaza grabbed her before she could face-plant on the muddy ground. “The hell happened? Why do you look like you feel from a tree and hit all the branches?!”

“Haha! Amazing how you can find ways to insult me in any situations!” Y/N said back, though her playful tone didn't match her shaking body.

He guided her further inside the cave, though it was darker, at least it was dry. “Uh- sorry, I don't have anything to cover you with.” He awkwardly said, not sure on what to do. Come on, he kills people, not save them!

“My- Are you saying you're going to use your body temperature to warm me up? I'm always ready!”

“I would rather let you die.”

“Your words hurt.”

He sighed in response, though they only got to actually know and hold a conversation with each other two weeks ago, there was a lot he wanted to ask.

Firstly, why does she always act so recklessly? Come on, run under the rain in this condition?!

“You are staring at me so intensely right now, did my beauty stun you or something?” Y/N said.

And secondly, how could she say these kinds of things without feeling any sense of shame?

But he decided to brush aside these confusions for the time being and asked what really mattered currently. “Can you tell me what's going on?”

“….Nope!”

“Hah?” An irk mark appeared in his head, who does this stupid human think she is?!

“I came to fulfill what I promised! You probably noticed, but I had some complications, but now I'm ready to tell everything! I don't have much time, though! So sit down!” She said, slapping the place beside her for him to sit.

He sighed with an annoyed expression, but still sat down anyway. This is what all of what he has done was for, right? He would get what he wanted, and the same goes to her, the time they spent together was just for this deal, since realistically, he has no reason to care about a random human girl.

“Uuuhh- Where do I start…?” Y/N rubbed her chin, before cleaning her throat and saying : “Okay! From this point on, I will tell you everything that I know! It's up to you if you want to believe it or not!”

“Just go on with it already.” He said, annoyed.

“Your real name is Hakuji. I don't know if you had a family name though, sorry. You came from a poor family and had a badly sick father, do you see these lines you have on your arms?” She pointed at them, he weakly nodded in response.

“They were actually tattooed on you when you were still human! Since you didn't have the money to pay for medicine for your father, you resorted to pickpocketing, and you each time you were caught, you got beat up horribly and had a line tattooed on you!”

“…. Really? What a shitty life.”

'How do I tell him that this is not even the worst part?' Y/N could feel the cold-sweat starting to form, but decided to keep talking anyway.

“Well, after you were caught once again, you came back only to discover your father hanged himself- Uh- He left you a letter, but I can't really remember what was written- I think it was something about how he didn't want to live if it meant to steal for other people, and that you still could change...?” Y/N laughed nervously, but immediately stopped after she saw his serious expression and went back to talking.

“And well, you got very rightfully mad and went to beat the people from the magistrate all by yourself, it was really astonishing seeing your younger self beat all those adults all alone! Then, a man name Keizo, who owned a dojo, recognized your talents right away!”

“And?”

“You tried to attack him and received a beating, haha!”

“Oh.”

“Then he brought you to his dojo, and said for you to help to nurse his daughter! And that's where you met Koyuki! You took really good care of her, and received lessons here too and learned how to fight and all-”

“…. It's kind of hard to believe humans this nice would exist. Didn't this Keizo guy saw the tattoos on my arms? Why would he willingly bring a criminal inside his home?”

“Well, I guess there was a reason…”

“And that reason is…?”

“I forgot!” He immediately grabbed her shirt collar. “How I am supposed to believe you if you barely remember important details?!”

“D-don't blame me! I read- I mean, I heard your story a long time ago, you can't expect me to remember everything!!”

“So you really are a scammer-”

“I still remember the important parts! So go away and let me finish!” Y/N said, pushing him to sit down again, which he let her do obendiently. ( he momentarily got confused with her sudden audacity)

“What was I saying? Oh! This Keizo had trouble with another dojo, who was always harassing him, you grew up there up to until 18 years old, and you actually managed to nurse Koyuki back to health! She said she liked you, you liked her, and guys were even going to marry! You were going to inherit the dojo and everything!”

“…This sounds too happy. Suspiciously happy.”

Y/N forced a smile in response, now it's time for the harder part. “Uh- You were coming back from visiting your father's grave, and… you received the news that someone poisoned the well, killing both Keizo and Koyuki.”

His breath started to turn uneven, is he remembering something?

“You were enraged, obviously. Do you remember the dojo that would harass Keizo? Since they were responsible for the poison, you went there and-”

He covered his mouth with his hand, he's not going to vomit right there, was he?! Y/N is not sure if her currently weak stomach can handle seeing demon vomit!

“And what? Keep going.” He glared back at her.

“You went there and killed all the 67 members…. with your bare hands.”

“Oh.”

“That's an interesting part! Your bloodied and hopeless self started to walk aimlessly, and then you met with Muzan! Akaza, what do you think the human you did when you met him?”

“Huh?”

“You had already lost everything, right? You were probably feeling very hopeless, right? And at that moment, what do you think it happened? The you with no will to live anymore asked Muzan Kibutsuji to turn you into a creature with superior strength, or after seeing your potential, your lovable lord forcibly turned you into the monster you never wanted to be in the first place?”

He didn't respond.

“Judging by your expression, you probably already knows the answer.” She nonchalantly said.

“…. I-”

“Huh? Did you remember something?” She asked.

“I was so mad-” He coldly looked at his hands. “I didn't even bury them, I just- went straight to the neighbor dojo and-"

'…. And since Muzan turned him before he could back, he didn't even have the opportunity to bury them since he couldn't remember anything anymore.' Y/N frowned. 'Now this just makes things sadder.'

Y/N wasn't about what to do, comfort him? Leave so he can sort out his feelings alone? Stay here without saying anything, just for support? Akaza has a bit of an unpredictable personality, so she doesn't exactly know what will make him mad or not.

She silently looked outside, the rain had already stopped, and the moon was still brightly up in the sky.

“…We still have time.”

“For what?” He asked, his voice sounded strained, was he holding back tears? Well, I guess it would be hard to cry in front of a girl you only know for, like, two weeks.

“If you'd like… We could make graves for them? It's never too late to mourn them.” That was a stupid idea, but since Akaza sounded specially upset about not giving them a proper burial, maybe this would help? Who knows, if he got mad, she could always trust in the no-women rule and then run for her life.

“…. I will do it. But you stay here.” He coldly said, getting up from his spot.

“But-”

“It's too cold outside, stay there.”

'Wow- Even after all that, he still found space in his brain to worry about my health?' Y/N was quite touched.

After he left, Y/N decided to let him have his time alone, he probably needed that, she did wonder if she should go back to the temple, but honestly, it would make her very guilty if she left him alone in this state-

And while she questioned this, she ended falling asleep.

Wake up.

Her eyes snapped open, for how long she slept?! She looked outside, the sky was still dark, but the sun was already starting to appear, shit! This way they will discover that she sneaked out!

She exasperatedly ran outside the cave, looking around and seeing Akaza, standing in front of two stones.

Right… right… that was what she suggested him to do. But now, she kind of feels like she only made things sadder for him.

Should she say something? Ugh-! She already has so much to worry about, why is she always worrying about others in the end?

Her feet started to move in his direction without she could notice it.

This is stupid! He's going to kill you, idiot! Leave him alone with his sadness, he will eventually go back to that depressing place with the others upper moons anyway!

She started to run in his direction faster, suddenly grabbing his wrist, he exasperatedly looked back at her. “What the hell are you doing?!”

He looked more confused rather than mad.

'Come on Y/N! Comfort words? Anything useful you can say?!'

“Akaza…. I'm going to kidnap you.”

“WHAT?!”