Chapter Text
"Good night, Nezuko-chan." Aoi yawned behind her hand and gave her a small wave before going towards the separate corridor that leads to her room.
"See you tomorrow!" Nezuko returned her waved and gave a smile of her own then went to her room alone. She placed the lamp that she was carrying in the corner of her room and crawled inside her futon. She stared at the ceiling blankly, her mind preoccupied with her brother and her friends who were out for tonight and wouldn't come back until the sun rose and prayed for their safety then turned in for the night.
Even after Muzan's death, demons still ran amuck freely in every corner of every town and city and the rest of the demon slayer corps took it upon themselves to rid of their existence in this world. With Tanjirou and the others being gone every night, they decided that it was better to stay at the Butterfly Estate for a while since Tanjirou didn't want to leave her sister alone. But if the siblings were being honest with themselves, they just didn't want to go back to their old home yet. Memories of their deceased family was still painful but at least now they had justice for their death. And besides, Nezuko didn't mind staying at the Estate. She had gotten used to the company of the people here, it was never boring and always a lot of fun doing household chores with Aoi, Kiyo, Naho and Sumi. She would spend the days playing and working with the girls, cooking and preparing things that the demon slayer corps would need and slept peacefully knowing that they were protected. And in the morning, her brother and the others would come back and would share a meal together. Right now, this feels like family and reminds her of the old days which made her heart full and happy.
A quiet creak on the tatami mats somewhere in the estate had caught her attention. The noise pierced through the peaceful night and it bothered her. The creaks continued and it was too quiet that it got her suspicions up. It was as if the wind had formed a body and walked through the halls eerily to taunt her. Curious, she grabbed the lamp on the side of the room and went out of her room to follow the sound, making sure that she herself was quiet too, to not alert the intruder. If the person even was an intruder. Maybe it was Aoi or the girls, she had thought to herself. But she was already here now so she might as well check, she reasoned. As she continued to follow it, she ended up in front of the clinic and she noticed that the door was slightly open. There was a soft rummaging clamor coming from inside and without hesitation, she slid the door open to the side. At the sight of the person in the dim room, she almost dropped the lamp she was holding and gasped.
"Shi… Shinazugawa-san?" Nezuko blinked incredulously at the Wind Pillar who was searching through the cabinets in the clinic.
His tall, muscular frame looked the same as it did months ago and his unruly hair was as wild as it looked before. The scars on his hand were there along with the two missing fingers on his right hand and that was all it took to really believe that he was really here, alive and well. A surge of relief overwhelmed her body. For all they knew, he was dead. Not by demons, but hunger, thirst or lack of sleep. His whole body stilled at her voice and ever so slowly, turned his body towards the doorway looking just as surprised as she did.
"Where the fuck did you come from?" He hissed at her, perplexed why he hadn't sensed her creep up behind him. Was he getting weak?
"It's really you! Wh-Where have you been, Shinazugawa-san?! Everyone is so wo-" A hand immediately clamped down on her mouth effectively shutting her up not even letting her finish. She was astounded at the speed of his movements that closed their distance. He was still fast as ever.
"Why the hell are you so damn noisy?" He grimaced in displeasure.
She blinked at him a couple of times and lifted her hands up to remove his hand, all the while staring at his face. Now that he was up close, she could definitely see the exhaustion on his face.
"When was the last time you had a proper meal, Shinazugawa-san?" She muttered sadly out of the blue with so much gentleness that it surprised him. She paid his reaction no mind as she observed his hollowed cheeks then to his deep under eye circles. "When was the last time you had a good sleep?"
He backed away from her as if she had some contagious disease, weirded out by the tone of her voice and turned away snootily. "None of your business." He went back inside again to continue hunting for whatever he was looking at in the drawers.
"What are you looking for?"
"Shut up and go back to sleep." He gave her a dismissive wave and his eyes lit up slightly when he opened one cabinet and took it out to the table. Nezuko recognized the box he pulled out and charged him, slamming down her hand on it when he was about to open it. "Oi, what the he–"
"Energy pills, are you kidding me?!" Her voice rose to higher altitudes as she gave him an angry stare. "You're in no condition to take any of these!"
She didn't know anything about medicines or healing people but Aoi had talked about the energy pills she made every week enough to know this much. The essence of these were to help demon slayer corps for a short period of time in case they were in a situation where no food is available or resting is out of the question. She had also mentioned this should only be taken once a week and will give you a boost of energy for two to four days max but it was never designed to be taken long term. After intake of the pills, a rest is a must to be able to recover the muscles and evade the side effects. She suddenly had connected the dots in her mind about what Aoi was grumbling for last week and for the other months ago about someone stealing the large batches she makes. It was him taking the batches! Looking at him now, she wondered how he was even standing up on his own.
"Hands off! And keep your damn voice down! Didn't I tell you to mind your own business?" He barked but Nezuko shoved him to the side and hugged the box to her chest tightly.
"You're not getting these, Shinazugawa-san! I won't let you!"
"Watch me." He smirked and made a move. Nezuko ducked with a shriek and quickly ran out the room with him following closely behind. They were both making the effort of trying not to make any noise, making it look like some sort of comical version of a silent tag. They passed through the different rooms and through the long corridors with their footsteps padding quietly with a hollow thump and hisses exchanged between them. Sanemi was quickly losing what little temper he had from the beginning, which was not a lot, and picked up her whole body then slammed it lightly on the wall.
"Well, that was fun, huh?!" he said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. "Now give me the fucking box!"
"No!" She resisted and hugged the box closer, eyes pinched close tightly. A nerve popped in his forehead as he stared at the box and sighed. There was no way he would touch that now that it was squished against her chest. He was rough, yes, but he was no barbarian.
"What do you want, woman?" He grouched and leaned down to her level. "Well? You know I fucking need those!"
She opened her eyes to glare up at him determinedly. "No, you don't. What you need is food and sleep, you can't rely on these things forever!"
"It's not forever, it's just until I annihilate every single one of those fucking demons!" His eyes grounded her as if he was proving a remarkable point.
"Yeah? And when's that gonna end? It's not easy to bring an end to them when you have the whole country to cover! And besides, Onii-chan and the others are doing the same thing as you, it's not yours to bear alone!"
"They're too slow!" He scoffed and looked away from her as if he couldn't bring himself to look at her, "And those idiots shouldn't even be doing that anymore! They should be living their lives happily now and leave the demon hunting shit to the ones who lost everything and have nothing left to live for… like me."
To say that his words left her speechless was an understatement. She really was not expecting him to say that after all that midnight dash and as a result, she only stood there gaping at him as if she was a fish out of water. She really didn't know what to say to comfort him. But that doesn't mean that she was going to give up.
"Now will you just let me have those, so I could leave?" He muttered quietly.
She frowned at him, more determined than ever. "No."
"Oh, come on!" He groaned and moved away from her, "Fucking, fine! What do you want then?!"
"A meal and a rest."
"Huh?" He grimaced at her.
"What I want for you is to eat a proper meal here and stay the night for a rest." She resolved.
"Forget it!"
"Then you can forget about this too, how 'bout it?" She challenged and he 'tsk'ed under his breath.
"I'll stay for a meal, take it or leave it!" He proposed a new deal instead. Nezuko looked at him showing him an unsatisfied look but he too looked like he wasn't giving up so she sighed and nodded. Still, having him to agree with her on one thing with her was a good sign, right?
"You're so stubborn."
"As are you." He moved away from her and gave her a smirk, "Well? Hurry up, the demons aren't gonna kill themselves!"
"Just keep quiet and follow me." She peeled herself away from the floor and walked ahead on the corridor.
"That's rich coming from you." She laughed at his remark and shrugged him off.
After a few minutes passed, Sanemi and Nezuko were now occupying one of the guest rooms after the whole ordeal with Sanemi having a full course meal prepared neatly in front of him and Nezuko sitting beside him joyfully with a rice pot ready beside her if he ever needs seconds. They were facing the yard with the door open to let the cool wind in.
"Hey, I know I said I would eat..." Sanemi lowered her chopstick to give her a strange stare, "but do you have to watch me like that?"
"Yup!" She nodded bubbly, "Just so I can make sure you ate the whole thing!"
"Of course, I would eat it! I'm not an idiot who wastes food!" He gruffed and began eating to show her. He was eating with his left hand as if it was that easy and Nezuko snuck a glance at his right hand curiously then gazed back at him.
"I know." She laughed lightly and shrugged. "But I'll feel more at ease when I actually see you eat. Everyone is really worried about you, you know."
"I never asked them," he shot back curtly. "Where'd you even pull this much food out anyways?"
"Oh, we make extra when we prepare food so when a corps member comes here at any time, we can feed them quickly. It's good, right?" She peered at his bowl to see it was already half empty and smiled at him, content. She was right because within seconds, he almost downed his rice empty. He must've been more food deprived than he thought, but he wasn't going to tell her that any time soon.
"Aoi-chan and I made it, you know! How is it?"
He didn't reply for a while as he continued chugging down his food but Nezuko was waiting for him patiently to answer. Pausing his movements, Sanemi munched on his food in thought and threw a side glance at her for a split second then resumed eating. "It's not gross."
The food was good but only said that to keep his pride. And of course, to mess with her also. And the pout she gave him after that made him chuckle under his breath.
"Not gross? Is that even a compliment? Why did you describe it like that? I'm sure that it's good!" She narrowed his eyes at him and noticed his rice was gone.
"Food is food." He smirked at her and she huffed, holding out her hand to give him another serving. The smirk was wiped off his face instantly as he blinked at her stupidly and stared at her hand hesitantly.
She rolled her eyes and took the bowl herself, "Oh, stop being so stubborn already!"
If not for his embarrassment in her hospitality, he would've laughed at the way she was scooping the rice onto his bowl all the while fuming like a train. He swore he could see a small smoke puffing out her ears. A cool wind blew past them in the quiet night and he turned to stare at the full moon out tonight. It was past midnight already and the moon beamed brightly in the night sky. There were hardly any stars out tonight but that didn't make its beauty any less because the light bounced on the wisteria flowers creating a wonderful sight that surrounded the estate. It was almost magical in a way. He closed his eyes and breathed in some fresh air. Even if it was eerily quiet again now that the two had settled down, it didn't bother him because he knew the demons wouldn't even dare try lurking around where they were. The people here were safe. The thought calmed him and another chilly wind passed them.
"What would you like then?"
Broken out of his tranquil reverie, he opened his eyes to glance at her. What he wasn't expecting though was her looking at him expectantly with a hopeful look with those sparkly pink eyes of hers. He flinched away as if he was burned and cleared his throat, looking the other way. "Uh…" He tried to remember what she had said earlier but his mind was drawing a blank and kept remembering her gaze.
"Well? Say anything you like, I'll make it!" Nezuko repeats as she tries to peek at his face, insistently. "You know, for the next time you eat here! I'll make sure it's the best version of that dish you ever tasted! I promise!"
He snapped his neck towards her so fast that she winced at the 'crack' noise she heard. "Next time?"
"Yeah, next time!" She nodded vigorously and grinned confidently. "I'm really good at cooking, you know!"
"There is no next time?" He had meant to say it as a statement but instead had come out with a question due to his own confusion. He wondered where she even got that thought from and looked at her as if she had grown two heads while she set the bowl of rice in front of him.
"I wonder about that." She smiled and stared up at the moon, leaning back on both of her hands for support, "It's okay if you won't tell me, I'll just find out on my own." She claims and they fell into a comfortable silence as they watched the sky. The two played back tonight's occurrences in their heads and wondered how the confrontations earlier resulted in this with one thanking her lucky stars and the other one calculating what mistakes he had committed.
Nezuko glanced at her companion at the corner of her eyes to see Sanemi finished with his meal and drinking his water. Everything had been cleaned out as if she had just washed it apart from the small sauce stains. She tried to wipe the smile growing on her face and turned away when she couldn't.
"What? What the hell are you smiling about now?" He accused, narrowing his eyes.
"Nothing, nothing." She replied coyly, matching his glare with an innocent one. They stared at each for a few seconds until he averted his with a small 'tch' and stood up, looking for his sword. The minute he did, he suddenly felt dizzy but held his stance and shook his head repeatedly to focus on his surroundings better.
"You alright? You sure you don't want to stay the night?" She stood behind him for support.
"No, I have to get back," he mumbled drowsily, snatching his sword on the floor which was a mistake because he felt like collapsing on the floor. He also noticed how his movements were too slow for his own liking but regardless ignored his body delay and went to the door, preparing to leave.
"Okay, sure," she said as if she was consoling a child while she quickly rolled the futon ready from the corner of the room, spreading the covers open and smiled at him sweetly, "Good night, Shinazugawa-san. Sweet dreams."
"...what?" He turned his head ever so slowly with a grimace, eyes getting heavy and before he knew it, his body grew slack and his eyes drooped close. Nezuko immediately ran behind his back to catch him and took a few steps back to steady herself and slowly eased his body to get inside the futon. His sword dropped on the floor loudly and she winced at the sound, concerned it might wake him up and waited for a few seconds with her eyes screwed shut tightly. When he didn't, she resumed dragging his body which was no easy task considering how small she was compared to him. She expected him to be heavy but in reality, he was much heavier than she thought so when she lost her footing, she couldn't control both their bodies when they dropped unceremoniously on the tatami mat. While falling she managed to grab his head in a state of panic for protection and hugged him close to her body. She was frightened that her little scheme might damage his head or worse, wake him up .
She fell on her butt ungracefully with a smothered thud because they both thankfully landed on the mattress. When the impact ended, she was astounded that his body was spread in the right position in the futon, just his other leg sticking out of the mattress and with him still fast asleep after all that. This would have been perfect if only his head wasn't laying on top of her lap all snug. But still, job well done she supposed. She sat up better in her spot to relieve the minor discomfort in her buttocks. Then ever so slowly as to not make any sudden movements that might disturb his slumber, she grabbed his head with both of her fingers on the sides carefully and as gently as she could, lifted it away from her lap.
"Guuuhh..." He jerked in his sleep suddenly, his stubby brows furrowing in the middle with a sleepy scowl.
Her hands froze in surprise and quickly dropped his head back to her thighs and stared at his eyelids like an owl as if waiting for them to open and glower at her. She let a couple of seconds ticked by, minutes even, and after a while when he showed no signs of waking up again, she released a shaky breath that she didn't know she was holding. If he were to wake up now, she would not live to see the sunrise.
She didn't know if he was just a heavy sleeper at this point or the drug's effects were just that powerful to knock him out this much. The last assumption concerned her and berated herself for using twice the amount of sleeping powder than one normally uses. In her defense though, she didn't want to half-assed the plans she had for him and ruin the perfect opportunity chanced upon her.
She looked down at him and observed if he looked alright. She wasn't sure what symptoms to even look for but her worries melted when she heard the peaceful, soft snores coming from him and noticed his breathing was even. Huh, maybe twice the amount of sleeping powder was just enough for a guy like him with monstrous strength.
Well, she thought, it wouldn't hurt to stay like this for a while... just until she's sure he wouldn't wake up for real this time. She made herself comfortable again just to make sure she didn't get any cramps later and reached for the covers to tuck him in, placing it just above his shoulders. She looked outside again with a victorious grin and mentally patted herself on the back. A really great job done, if she says so herself considering who she's dealing with.
"Sorry, Shinazugawa-san." She smiled apologetically at him even though he was already in his own world now, "You'll probably be really mad at me tomorrow..."
She stared at the scars on his face, pondering where he got those in the first place. It was huge now that she was looking at it up close and took half of the attention from his face. Knowing he was out cold, she dared to trace the scars with her index finger lightly, curious to how it felt and looked at his hand that was laying outside the mattress that had matching scars on his face.
She unconsciously traced the other parts of his face, like his short brows, his long eyelashes, his sharp nose, thin lips and down to the sides of his jaw. It's funny, she always thought he didn't have any brows but upon closer inspection, indeed, he did and she didn't know why but the discovery made her giddy. When he's not scowling, he actually looks pretty decent, handsome even, especially with his features being highlighted by the soft glow of the moon. She was sure that she was handsome too before the scar but somehow preferred him with it. It looked dangerous yet cool. He was...
Nezuko caught herself before she said some things out loud and flushed at her own thoughts. She quickly checked for any signs on his face as if he had heard her telepathically and around her surroundings paranoidly. She looked at his face again once more and her face only grew hotter by the second. Feeling like she couldn't take it anymore, she crawled out under him in a panic, forgetting to care if he would wake up or not and shuffled a few feet away from him, out of breath. Thankfully, he was still sleeping after she had just dropped his head with little care. Miraculously though, his head was perfectly placed on the pillow under him. She heaved out a final shaky breath and went across the room to close the door leading to the yard then ran out from the dim room in a hurry.