Caught By Flames (Kyojuro Rengoku x Reader)

13 : Demon Train?! (2)

A/N: This will be in 2nd person and WARNING! May or may not contain manga spoilers! (Actually, most of it will be the exact chapters with minor changes, so really. Read with caution anime only fans...!) Read at your own risk, please and thank you! Hope you enjoy, though!

You sat up from a bed suddenly, as if you had a nightmare. It was a bit startling as you stood up in an oddly familiar kimono and haori. It was dark outside, but you could make out the heavy trees that surrounded the place. With a sharp inhale, someone spoke up, "Is something the matter, (Y/N)? Come lay down with me." The kind voice spoke. You noticed your body was much smaller and more frail than what it used to be, but laid down with the stranger nonetheless. He was warm and held you closely, "As long as you're with me, I promise nothing can hurt you, (Y/N)..." the voice sounded sleepy as he stroked your long hair. "That's what big brothers do after all!" You could feel the smile on his face, and questioned his words. 'Brother? Is this really him?'

With a sigh, you loosened up and closed your eyes hoping it would take you back to the real world, but of course it didn't. Instead, you lived through day after day in this dream like world, and each of your memories you had been stripped of slowly came back as you lived each day. When it was finally the day of the attack, you knew your family, knew how much they really cared about you. It may have made you naive, but it didn't matter as you did what they told you despite their screams of horror and agony. Your feet flew down the mountain with nothing holding you back. It was as if you were acting with selfish thoughts, but you weren't. You were doing as your kind brother and sweet mother told you. You couldn't control your actions, but something entered your mind. It was doubt. Thinking about the situation and your family, this wasn't right. Something was wrong, something you hadn't realized before.

The more you thought about it, the more things seemed to confuse you until suddenly you woke up in a bed, two firm hands touching your shoulders. Eyes wide and mouth gaping, your breath was free. The boy spoke, but you didn't hear it. It was Kyojuro. Kid Kyojuro. You looked down at your hands, and slid out of the bed. This wasn't what happened in your memories, but you suddenly remembered everything. Everything Shinjuro taught you, everything you did for yourself and others. It all came back to you in that moment. Despite the pain you felt, and the yelling Kyojuro was doing, you walked out of the medical bay. Shinjuro tried to stop you, Shinobu tried to stop you, but you kept walking despite the clear pain in your body. It wasn't until Kyojuro hugged you from behind that you stopped.

"Please... don't go..." they weren't the words of the boy she knew. It was the words of herself, her own subconscious. "You may be strong... but this rage won't help. You now understand, but rage will do you no good... so please... leave this place before you're stuck..."

In the real world, Tanjiro had woke up already by killing himself in his dream. Nezuko had burned his ropes, aiding him in getting out. When he looked around, he noticed Kyojuro standing with his hand around a girl's neck, while you were laying on the seat with a calm expression. "Nezuko, can you burn these ropes?" He asked pointing to the ropes that connected the boys and girls to his friends. After watching it burn out, he ran towards the demon smell, and ended up on top of the moving train encountering the demon responsible.

"Master-sama won't be to happy if he learns of this..." Tanjiro heard the demon speak. It enraged him, but why? "Oh, you're awake. Good morning. You couldn't sleep more?" Tanjiro had put the humans, who attacked him, to sleep, but now there was this demon. He just used them, poor children. "I showed you an especially nice dream." The demon rambled on and on, the one with the earrings was the one Muzan wanted, Enmu knew that. He had come to the him, what a coincidence. "Oh, well... I must warn you, though. One of your comrades have already fallen. They will no longer be able to fight in battle. They'll be mentally crippled for all their days... master-sama would have preferred to keep that one alive, oh, well..." he said with a saddening tone. Simply, he looked at the boy in front of him and tried to put him back to sleep. It worked for a mere split second, then Tanjiro was moving again and ready to fight the bastardly creature. It had no regard for human life, self centered to the core, which angered Tanjiro by extreme measures. The demon was giving him a nightmare of his family. It horrified him, and sent him over his limit for anger. He was beyond that. He was seething with it.

Tanjiro easily cut the demon head off realizing the little resistance despite his rank. He looked behind him and saw the demon not deteriorating or dieing. It was creepy to day the least. Enmu explained that he fused with the train which was now his blood, flesh, and bones. Immediately, Tanjiro knew what that meant and screamed for his friends to wake up. He didn't know which one was mentally crippled, he could only take a wild guess. Suddenly, he heard Inosuke's shouting and felt hope for the oh so dire situation. He quickly explained what's going on with a shout beckoning Inosuke to use his beast breathing to help secure the safety of the citizens that Tanjiro couldn't get to. Nezuko also tried helping, but with no weapon and only claws, she couldn't do much. She got trapped by the train, which began to wrap around her wrists and legs. She might have been devoured if not for Zenitsu quickly going to her aid. That only left two people. Rengoku and (Y/N).

Tanjiro heard the lightning from the car behind him wondering who all had woken up so far. His mind immediately went back to protecting the citizens in front of him when the train suddenly threw him against the wall in a halted position. As he opened his eyes he saw Kyojuro standing in front of him with his sword drawn already.

"Kamado, my boy! I managed to land a few minor slashes before I came here! And I think the demon will take some time to regenerate. But there's little time, so I'll speak to you quickly! This train is made up of 8 cars! I'll protect the back 5. Yellow boy and your sister will protect the other three. You and the boar head boy will go for the demons neck while watching out for the front three cars." Tanjiro was confused by this, the demon had a neck? He had already cut it and Enmu didn't die.

"Neck?! But now the demons..."

Kyojuro leaned closer to the boy, "It doesn't matter what he looks like! As long as he's a demon, he'll have a neck! I'm also looking for his weak spot while fighting him, so time to get fired up, my boy!" Just like before, Kyojuro blasted away faster than Yanjiro could perceive. As he was running towards the smell of the demon, something hit him. 'The only one not awake now... was (Y/N)! Will she really be unable to recover from this? Can we expect her to just sit and watch? That's not her at all! She wouldn't give up that easily! But wait- why does Muzan want her alive and well? Did Enmu not know she was here before he cast that spell on us?' Tanjiro thought. He didn't want to believe (Y/N) would be mentally crippled and unable to fight ever again. It was unthinkable, but he had more pressing matters he had to devote his attention to.

Meanwhile, back in your dream, Kyojuro stood behind you wordlessly. "I just don't understand. I was told my entire family was killed, massacred to extinction. Why was I lied to...?" You questioned your subconscious. It had his face and his voice, but it wasn't him.

"They didn't lie to you. Even you yourself didn't know until a moment ago. Don't put blame on others when it was a misunderstanding. You're better than that."

"Who says I am?!" You shouted with a sudden burst of frustration. You felt as if you were being judged unfairly by your own standards, and it irritated you. "I'm worthless, I couldn't even make it out of this stupid damn dream before my 'spiritual core' or whatever was shattered... I'm nothing more than a waste of time-" despite being your subconscious, the soft touch of Kyojuro made you feel safe almost instantly. There was warmth in his touch, and suddenly, it was like a dam inside of you broke as tears streamed down your face. What was wrong with you suddenly, why were you crying? You weren't afraid of never being able to function again. You weren't afraid of death. Then it hit you.

The thing you feared most... was losing Kyojuro. You didn't realize it until now... but that was your fear. Your only weakness. "Think, Snowball. What can you do, what more is there for you?" His soft voice and the soothing circular motions he rubbed on your back calmed your sobbing and helped relax you. You thought about his question, obviously you knew what needed to be done subconsciously, but not consciously. You were glad he was on your side, even if he was just you speaking to yourself. It helped with the stress the situation had caused you.

They were fighting while you slept. Your friends were risking their life, not only to keep your sleeping form safe, but also the passengers on the train. It frustrated you beyond recognition, and your brain seemed to work twice as fast as you went through every possibility there was to reawaken from this dream. This night was long from over, you knew that much. With a sudden growl, you pushed Kyojuro away from your trembling body. You knew what needed to be done, and knew exactly how to do it. Hopefully it wouldn't be to late by the time you came back.

Your footsteps echoed within the dream as your resolve only became stronger. No matter what it took, you would make it back unscathed and able to fight, you vowed it!

A/N: I didn't proof read, so I'm sorry if there are grammatical mistake within this chapter! Hope you liked it!