━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Chapter 9 ━☂

❁ཻུ۪۪ ━ ❝ Expectations, expectations.

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Ripping off the dead kid's arm, the winged demon devoured the arm whole as he left out the head which showed a mortified expression, pure fear forever imprinted on their wide black eyes. 

"Ugh, I guess being sent food every year or so makes up for being stuck here..." The winged demon whispered, getting up and walking away from the dead child as he went to look for some more food. "Why, aren't you rude." Hearing someone from above say that the winged demon quickly looked up only for the sword to already have cut his head. 

Landing back down on the ground gracefully (Y/n) looked over at the shocked winged demon's head. "How... how did you?" The winged demon asked, unfortunately, those were his last words as he turned into dust, flying away with the wind as his backstory will forever be his own to remember. 

Sheathing back his sword (Y/n) put his hands in a praying motion as he chanted a prayer to wish him luck in death. Looking over at the disembodied head, (Y/n) flinched as the kid's eyes were still wide opened. 

"I don't think I will ever get used to such sights..." (Y/n) mumbled as he walked over towards the head and kneeled, closing the victim's eyes. Getting up (Y/n) unsheathed his sword and pointed it towards the ground. "God's Breathing: Second Form- Trapped Lamb: Second Stage." Once chanted, five vein-like things came out of his sword and went towards the ground, quickly digging up the dirt until it was six feet deep. 

Walking over towards the severed head (Y/n) gently picked it up and cradled it on his arm trying not to mind the little blood droplets staining his white haori. Jumping down below (Y/n) put down the severed head and looked back up, jumping up and landing on the ground. 

Pointing his sword towards the dug-up dirt the vein-like things quickly went over towards the dirt and put it back inside the hole, effectively burying the kid's severed head. Kneeling next to the grave (Y/n) put his head on the ground as he whispered a string of apologies for being late. 

'This wouldn't have happened if I was stronger!' (Y/n) scolded himself and bit his lip, tears threatening to spill only for him to remember what his sensei told him. Lifting his head (Y/n) clenched his fists tightly as he wiped away his tears, his eyes set ablaze with determination. 

"Warriors don't cry! Warriors don't cry!" (Y/n) chanted again and again as he got up, bowing down to the grave as he prayed for the child's safety wherever he went. Sheathing back his sword (Y/n) ran away as he headed towards the East. 

'Right now, I have to head East. If I want to make sure that I might survive this and return to everyone I have to head where the sun hits first!' Clutching the hilt of his sensei's sword tighter, (Y/n) suddenly stopped as he remembered who the sword actually belonged to.

"Did I chip the sword?!" (Y/n) exclaimed in worry as he quickly unsheathed the sword and brought it out, examining it as he hoped that his sensei's sword was not chipped in any shape or form. Looking closely at the sword (Y/n) saw that it had a small black stain making (Y/n) soul leave his body. 

"S-Sensei... sensei's going to kill me!" (Y/n) cried as he tried to wipe off the stain that somehow appeared on the Nichirin Blade only for it to remain there taunting the desperate child. "Please, please come out, stain-san! I'll give you my soul!" (Y/n) tried to compensate the black stain only for it to continue taunting him. 

Three demons looked over at the desperate child as all three of them sweatdropped. "Honestly, I don't really wanna kill the kid. I mean, look at him! He's literally trying to convince a stain to come out of his sensei's blade. If I were to eat him I think I would catch something." The blue-haired demon shivered at the thought of ending up like the child as the second demon nodded in agreement. 

"Agreed..." The purple-haired demon agreed with him only for the third demon to hit them both on the head earning the black-haired demon cries of complain. "Are you hearing yourselves right now?! We're demons! We eat whoever, whenever!" The black-haired demon humpfed as he crossed his arms, his expression oozing with pride. 

Hearing his companions back away from him the black-haired demon opened his eyes and looked down at them only to see both of them pointing at someone behind him. Sighing, the black-haired demon closed his eyes. 

"There's someone behind me, isn't there?" The black-haired demon asked them, the purple-haired demon nodding as the blue-haired demon just stood still. "Heard you were demons, is that true?" (Y/n) asked them, his sensei's blade pulled out and ready for any attack. 

Looking over his shoulder the black-haired demon jumped in surprise as he ran over towards his companions, all three of them huddling together as they say the (H/c)-haired boy giving them bored looks. 'H-His stare! It's so intimidating!' The three demons thought in unison and began to shiver as (Y/n) walked closer towards them. 

"W-We're humans!" The purple and blue-haired demons announced, backing away from the black-haired demon as they pointed at him. "Except for him!" The two demons pointed at the black-haired demon making him look back at the two traitors. 

"You little shits... once we all go to hell I'll make sure to be the one torturing you." The black-haired demon threatened them making the two gulp. (Y/n) watched this scene awkwardly as he saw what Gorou called a 'Double Snitch Attack'.

"Yeah... I don't know why you'll try to claim yourselves human when I can clearly see your abnormally long arms and wings." (Y/n) pointed out, said arms and wings flinching once they were called out. "Hey! Don't make fun of my arms!" The purple-haired demon barked back making the blue-haired demon try to shut him up. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that-" (Y/n) tried to apologize only to see the black-haired demon rip off the arms of the purple-haired demon. "There, I took care of the problem!" The black-haired demon exclaimed proudly making the armless demon look at him in shock. 

"Bob-"

"My name is not Bob, okay?!" The black-haired demon cut him off, swinging around the demon's disappearing arm to showcase his anger. "Bob! I thought we were going to call a truce!" The blue-haired demon stated only for him to be hit by the fading arm. 

"Fuck that truce!" The black-haired demon named Bob exclaimed, his eyes angry as the other two tried to make him calm down. Getting up from his sitting position on the ground (Y/n) was finally tired of watching this so he decided to end it. 

"Look, I know it's this will be really mean of me and all, but..." Unsheathing his sensei's sword, (Y/n) appeared before the three making them freeze. "... God's Breathing: First Form- Falling Grace: Second Stage!" Just after (Y/n) said that spikes came out of the ground and pierced them, the poison quickly flooding into their system killing them off. 

'All the demons that I faced so far were four, and all of them didn't pose much of a challenge.' Sighing, (Y/n) nodded his head. 'That's a good thing, the less danger I am in the more likely I can return to the others.'

Taking a step further (Y/n) froze as he saw the auras of two demons in the distance, both of them seemed to be arguing about something. Looking a little to the left (Y/n) eyes widened as he saw that there was another person there, and his aura seemed to be in slight despair. 

Clutching his sensei's sword tightly (Y/n) began to run towards the boy. 'He must need help! I have to save him, so I can't be late!' Readying his sword (Y/n) went to go in for the kill only for the two demon's auras to suddenly die. 

Looking down at the killed demons (Y/n) looked back up and saw a relieved boy who was looking down at his rough hands in happiness. 'Ah, the sunshine boy must be happy that he defeated two demons, though... his aura is suffocatingly kind.' (Y/n) smiled down at the boy only to panic as he saw tears beginning to stream down his eyes. 

"Hey, do you need a hug?" Snapping out of his thoughts Tanjiro looked up at the familiar person as the blush from earlier resurfaced, his head unable to form a response to his question as his eyes were trained on (Y/n) own. Tilting his head to the side (Y/n) went to ask Tanjiro another question only for Tanjiro to suddenly faint.

Opening his eyes wide in surprise (Y/n) quickly saved Tanjiro from falling on the ground as he was now kneeling on the ground, Tanjiro in his arms as (Y/n) tried to wake him up. "Please, wake up! You're starting to make me panic, sunshine boy!" (Y/n) exclaimed only to harden his gaze and pick Tanjiro up bridal style, looking over at the direction of a coming demon. 

'What a revolting aura... I think I'm gonna puke.' (Y/n) gagged as he tried to hold down his food. 'Wait...' Looking back up (Y/n) breath hitch as he saw another aura coming close towards him. '... another candidate! He's being followed by that demon!'

Hearing the screaming come closer (Y/n) turned around as he saw the candidate run by, his sword drawn in his hand as he continued to run away from whatever demon it was chasing after him. "No one ever told me! I never signed up for this!" The boy cried, his expression showing pure fear. 

"Keiichi-san isn't cooking, so it must be because of that demon." (Y/n) whispered under his breath and shivered, remembering the first time that he ever tried his cooking only for him to go into a coma resulting in his usual workout routine with Sanemi to double once he woke up. 

Quickly hiding behind a tree as he saw a huge hand-covered creature pass by, (Y/n) peeked as he saw that it was going in the direction of where that kid was going. Shrugging his shoulders (Y/n) put Tanjiro on his back as he began to quietly run towards where the other candidate was and landed on a tree. 

Looking over towards where the demon was (Y/n) frowned as he saw that the demon was carrying a dead candidate, the boy's eyes wide with shock as blood was coming out of his eyes and mouth staining his haori. 

Biting down his lip from keeping himself from gagging (Y/n) saw as the hand-covered demon opened its big and wide mouth as saliva was still stringed making (Y/n) want to throw up even more. 'Why do I have to have such a weak stomach?' (Y/n) complained as he swallowed it down and continued to look over at the demon as he was slowly putting the dead candidate down inside his mouth. 

'That's it! If I watch anymore I think I'll hurl!' Putting down Tanjiro on top of the tree branch (Y/n) readied his sensei's sword as he jumped down. "God's Breathing: Sixth Form- Burning Love: First Stage!" (Y/n) yelled and chopped off the hand that had a hold of the boy as he began to fall only for (Y/n) to catch him and jump away from the demon and landing next to the frightened boy. 

"Here! Take care of him for me!" (Y/n) ordered the frightened boy as he handed the boy the dead candidate, his (E/c) eyes trained on the hand-covered demon. "What the hell! That was my meal! You're gonna pay for this!" The hand-covered demon exclaimed in anger as his arms seemed to be puffing up only for it to quickly stretch and head towards them. 

Flinching away in surprise (Y/n) felt the hands grab his leg making (Y/n) lose his footing as he was being dragged towards the hand-covered demon. Looking down at his hand expecting to see his sensei's sword to be there (Y/n) froze as he saw that in his hand he was holding nothing. 

Looking over at the hand-covered demon (Y/n) bit his lip as he tried to wiggle away only for it to prove futile. 'Come on, (Y/n)! Don't give up now!' (Y/n) tried to inspire himself only for the gaping wide mouth of the demon to prove the task to be very difficult. 

'So... this is it, huh? How pathetic... I wasn't even able to prove myself worthy of sensei's hard work. What will the others think? Surely they'll be disappointed that the supposed blessed child is nothing but useless. Who was I kidding?' Laughing sadly at the thought (Y/n) closed his eyes tightly only to feel someone grab him gently, opening his eyes as he saw himself in the arms of Tanjiro. 

Looking Tanjiro in the eyes (Y/n) smiled happily at him and wrapped him in a hug. "Sunshine baby! Thank you!" (Y/n) thanked him and pulled away from the hug only to see Tanjiro's eyes in a haze, his body frozen as his nose began to bleed. 

Looking closely at Tanjiro, (Y/n) poked his cheek. "Earth to sunshine baby!" (Y/n) exclaimed, trying to grab his attention only for the both of them to fall thanks to Tanjiro losing balance in his footing. 

'T-Too cute...' Was Tanjiro's thoughts as he was being shaken by (Y/n). The hand-covered demon watching patiently as he glanced over at the other two kids. 'They're gonna die anyway so I'll just give these two love birds a moment.' The hand-covered demon decided as he continued to watch (Y/n) trying to snap Tanjiro out of his trance. 

𑁍┊𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐑 ˎˊ˗

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ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴅᴀʏ/ɴɪɢʜᴛ ᴍʏ ʟᴏᴠᴇꜱ!

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