GENYA AU *audible gulp* WINTER AND THE WOLF
Midwinter at the Butterfly Estate was quite the sight. Icicles hanging off the pagoda, glistening in the peeking sunlight causing rainbows to dance atop the little pond below. The courtyard resembled that of the well powdered, unblemished face of a young woman. The snow was left unbothered, or it had been, until a boy trudged through it with purpose, right up to the mansion.
His clothes were in tatters, but they were in still better condition than his face. Bloodied from the scars all over it. One eye swollen shut while the other startled the helpers of the estate, enough to keep them from questioning his intent.
"Stay away from the demon," one of the older girls pulled the younger ones aside.
The boy's remaining eye swivelled in the direction of the comment, crimson and throbbing, it settled on the girl as if daring her to speak further.
"Who the heck are you?" Sanemi walked into the hallway, eyeing the newcomer with disdain.
The boy smiled while still looking at the girl, causing the younger ones around her to whimper in fear.
"My senses were right after all. You're here,…"
He turned around to face Sanemi, and the Wind Hashira's face crumpled when he lay eyes on his face.
"Sanemi-sama! Kiyotsukette!!"
But Sanemi had drowned in a white noise at the sight of his little brother. Who no more bore any resemblance to the young lad he had left behind after he took up the sword. Rage was seething off of him, dark veins bulging out on one side of his body. Crimson eyed, fanged and partly clawed. He was demon poisoned.
"I didn't come here to talk, Nichan!! I came here to fight! SO FIGHT ME!"
"TEME! WHAT DID YOU DO?! WHO MADE YOU COME HERE?!"
"MADE ME??? HAH! I PASSED THE FINAL SELECTION, AND CAME HERE AS A DEMON SLAYER."
He wiped spittle off his robe and continued. Sanemi was a mere foot away now, the both of them looming over each other in their frenzy.
"I thought once I got announced a Demon Slayer, it would feel different. That I would feel….different. Hmph! Guess not. Probably since I began killing demons long before it."
"So why are you HERE?!" Sanemi drew his sword, while Genya remained as he was. Head cocked to one side, watching his elder brother.
"If you've come to let me kill you, I will. I won't think twice. I'm a demon slayer, and you're," Sanemi paused, breath heaving as he attempted to make up his mind.
"A demon? Hahaha, yes Nemi. I'm a demon. A demon YOU created."
Genya lashed out, quicker than anybody expected, even Sanemi, who simply stood there with the sword in his hand, disbelieving and torn.
Right when his claws were about to make contact with Sanemi's face, he fainted. His body fell limp, to the floor, like a puppet cut of its strings.
Sanemi watched his brother's disfigured person lying so helplessly. So similar, yet so different to the little boy that used to be.
He turned to the girl who was crouched next to Genya, a hand on his back.
"You're some use after all, _Noroi_ ."
The girl didn't hear him. She didnt even acknowledge him, or any of them for that matter.
Sanemi stalked past her bucking form, while she tried her best to stay conscious. The others watched as her mouth stretched in a silent cry and her fingers turned to claws and back again. For a moment inbetween, her breath caught as if she'd never take another again. But her hold on the boy's robe never flailed.
"Genya….I….I'm….so..rry."
Genya woke up in a narrow bed with no memory of what had happened. And no one would tell him either. They would have if he could threaten them, but none of them would come to his room while he was awake.
Genya stayed in bed for two days trying to analyse the situation he had been in. He was sure he had felt someone's hand on his back right before he fainted. With the demon blood that had been coursing through him earlier, his senses had been extra sharp. If whatever action the person had taken had been delayed by a few seconds, Genya would have sliced them in two.
What did that person do to him? Whatever it was, it hadn't weakened him in any way. Even the after-taste of the demon poisoning was treating him better than usual.
On the third day, a sleeping Genya was carried away just as dawn broke. People who saw, only noticed a mountain of a man strolling across the courtyard of the main mansion with a bundle across his arms.
Genya turned in his sleep, trying to find a more comfortable position and fell on his nose to the wooden floor. He jerked awake coming face to face, with a blind man towering over him, hands templed in prayer. He reached for his guns, that weren't there, out of habit.
"Calm, Genya. There's no danger for you here."
And he was calm. He was never calm. Turning in the direction of the voice, he could make out the silhouette of a man among the faint shadows of the porch.
"Thankyou, Himejima. You may leave now." The Hashira bowed once, and walked off the courtyard.
"You must excuse me for the rude transportation, Genya. But we couldn't find a volunteer to escort you here, while you were conscious."
The voice came closer, and Genya got a look at his face. He immediately kneeled, head bowing in respect.
"It appears you know of me, Genya. Just as I know of you."
His ears pricked, but he didnt shift from his stance.
"Its quite the talent you've developed. Rather a survivor's tactic, I'd say. Tell me, Genya. Did you really want to become a Demon Slayer?"
Genya weighed between speaking the truth and speaking the right thing. His mother had taught him better so he went with the truth.
"I became a Demon Slayer because I knew it was the only way I could be with my brother. Forgive me, Oyakata-sama, for I know I've offended the tradition."
Genya bowed deep, head resting on the wooden floor, his palms pressed alongside it.
"Sit up, Genya." He obeyed. Oyakata-sama was smiling, but that didn't help his nervousness. Genya had arrived here knowing what he might face. His brother's wrath. Expulsion as a demon Slayer. He even considered the possibility of extermination, right now.
"There's someone else here, apart from your brother, that you used to hold dear."
Genya furrowed his brows. He remembered no one else. All these years, the only thoughts that he let into his mind were of his brother and his dead family.
"She stays in the butterfly estate as well. More or less," the master smiled to himself. "Find her, Genya. I believe she needs you. Perhaps, more than you might need her."
Genya left the main mansion, his head a mess. She, he had said. Need someone? He had never needed a soul in the last 8 years of struggling through life. Now this man assumed he was in need of a GIRL?! His anger was returning once again, a slumbering foe. But somehow, it didnt consume him. He seemed more in control of it.
It had begun to snow lightly. He looked up, opening his mouth a bit, tasting the air. The Butterfly estate was a few steps away, but then he tasted something else. Away from the direction of the estate. He breathed in deeply, closing his eyes. Cinnamon?
He followed the peculiar tang down a road that led to a set of steps. There was a frozen lake at the end of it. As Genya stood at the top, deliberating his next choice when he perceived two things.
One, was the squealing of a pig along with the voice of a girl. The second was, the presence of a demon.
He had no weapon in hand. But then he remembered, he groped for the thread around his neck. He tugged it out of his clothes, relieved to see the tiny bottle still fastened to the end of it. He raced in the direction of the demon, allowing his sense of taste of the air around to guide him.
The demon heard him coming and was facing away from its former prey even before Genya came to stop before it.
"My, I guess this village doesn't have special protections after all." He ripped the bottle of the thread, flicking the cork off the mouth of it.
"Leave!! My food!!" Genya realized that it was a rabid one. No demon or person, in their senses, dared to come near the Village. Even if they did, they wouldn't be targeting stray prey.
"Well why don't you have a taste of me instead?" He tilted the bottle into his mouth, emptying it of its contents. A little dark red trail glistened by the side of his mouth. Genya opened his mouth to lick it up, and his canines began to lengthen.
The Demon watched with puzzlement as his fingers turned clawed and his irises matched it's own.
"No, I'm a far worse Monster."
Ukiyo had heard the demon as well. But she couldn't move. What was worse, was she could feel her fingers slipping.
But the frightened, and fat piglet wouldn't listen. The presence of a demon wasn't helping. He kept splashing around, occasionally his hooves would hit the sides of the caved in hole, and few more cracks would appear in the ice around them.
"Ka-o-ruuuuu," Ukiyo desperately tried to find a spot in the ice to grip, but slipped once more. She could feel the cracks appear below her abdomen now. Any minute now, they would…
"What are you trying to do, freeze the pig??"
A tall shadow fell upon her. She strained to look, but the person appeared to be behind her.
Ukiyo couldn't see a face, and she could still sense the demon. Kaoru had start to fidget even more, squealing louder, when the shadow appeared.
"You kill us and the entire village will know. You'll never leave here alive, Demon." Ukiyo put as much bravado into her voice as was possible in her position.
"Walk AWAY!" The exertion from her voice put pressure on the cracks below her and she heard a loud one break. Kaoru was nearly foaming at the mouth now.
"Thick headed pig." She heard the person grumble and saw the shadow get smaller and smaller until she sensed someone crouch next to her.
Hands closed over her own and over Kaoru's hooves.
"Let go of the pig. Trust me." Ukiyo looked up then, and her hands loosened of their own.
"What the?! I wasn't expecting you to let go that easy!" Kaoru nearly sank but he had caught a single hoof just before the pig could fall.
"Genya-kun?! You're supposed to be in bed!"
"Funny. I actually remember you now." He tugged her pig out, still hung by the hooves and careful not to put anymore pressure onto the fragile ice.
"I would apologise, but your Pig's gonna be fine. Okay?"
"What-" Before she could ask, he had flung Kaoru towards land. The pig's screams ended with an soft oomf.
"Wow. He landed well. Must be all that fat."
Ukiyo still hadn't gotten past his statement about remembering her. So he had forgotten her?
She moved to raise her body, but the ice groaned under her.
"Baka! Don't move!" He was standing right infront of her now. Just across the circle through which Kaoru had fallen.
He crouched and grabbed both her wrists, but she couldn't feel his hands. Her arms had gone numb from staying dunked in the water.
"Keep your body loose. I'm going to pull you towards me. Do ya hear?!"
Ukiyo managed a nod, too afraid to move anymore. Genya made a testing tug and the ice protested.
"Kuso!" he cussed. "We're gonna gave to risk dislocating your arms then." His crimson eyes glinted mischievously, as if he were challenged.
Ukiyo closed her eyes. If the ice cracked, they would both fall. It didn't matter if only her arms were tugged off. She calmed her breathing, allowing her body to relax.
And he did. One minute she was lying over the freezing pond, and the next she was in his arms.
They were both breathing heavily. Their heartbeats and chests moving erratically against each other. The ice hadn't given, but it wouldn't stay that way too long.
"Come on, we need to move."
Ukiyo wanted to. She wanted to move away from the cold, but all she did was faint in his arms.
Ukiyo jerked awake and clutched at the closest thing she could find, for a sense of security.
That's when she noticed. She had grabbed the lapel of Genya's collar, tugging him closer. She was breathing right into his neck. But..how?
Genya had her huddled under his own coat, a small fire glowing infront of them.
"Had to make sure you hadn't frozen over. Taking you all the way would have been too long. So, get warm for a while."
Ukiyo obeyed. Their shoulders were pressed against each other, and he had an arm behind them, careful not to brush her.
Genya sniffed. Ukiyo remained staring at the fire, just like him, waiting for a reply.
"Cinnamon. Your…flavour. It was in the air."
Ukiyo's eyes widened, and she unconsciously tugged the coat a tad bit closer.
"And you just knew it was me?"
"Your pig was squealing too. So I figured it was either a demon trying to eat a pig or, well."
The two of them didn't say anything for a while.
"How long does the demon poisoning last?"
Genya looked over surprised. Out of all the things she could have asked him, she chose that.
She turned to face him as well, becoming aware of how close they were seated.
His demonic features had started to recede. Only his eyes and teeth remained, canines peeking through as he spoke.
"Not long now." He grumbled, turning away when he saw her observe him.
Ukiyo braved a chance, and grabbed his chin lightly and made him face her again.
"I'm not scared, Genya. I'm just asking."
The surprise was all over his face. And Ukiyo realised with a pang, that probably no one had told him that before.
"Why?" His voice sounded hoarse, but he didnt move away.
"Because I can help." He frowned in question.
"You said you remembered me. Does that mean you still trust me? Just like all those years ago?" Ukiyo expected him to hesitate a little, or probably look away.
"Yes." Her mouth parted, taken aback, but then she smiled and moved forward, taking his face in her palms.
He looked like the boy he used to be, then. Curious, a little nervous.
"I'm sorry, but this will help." And she closed the space between them, and kissed him.
It was a faint brush and she could feel his canines under his lips. She hadn't expected him to respond but he did. Immediately and earnestly. The arm behind them snaked around her, pulling her closer. His canines grazed her lower lip and she whimpered against his mouth. She could only revel in the moment for a few seconds before the poison bled into her.
The canines were hers now and her eyes fluttered open. So did Genya's. When he noticed the changes occurring in her, he pulled away.
"Yuki!!! Yukiyo!!! What's happening?!"
But she couldn't hear him. She spasmed in his arms, the canines expanding and withdrawing, until they were back to normal. Along with her eyes, which reverted to a glossy shade of blue.
"Wake up! Wake up, damn it!" Genya had her pulled against him and was trying to rub some warmth into her.
"You called me Yuki. Yukiyo."
"Baka!! Douhshita?!!" Ukiyo reached up and held his face.
"Do you remember? That snow day?"
He opened his mouth, about to demand for an answer but he seemed to change his mind. His eyes softened, searching her face, looking for some kind of warning sign. When he realised she was fine, he replied.
"The day I sniffed you out, from all the snow you were buried under?"
That made her laugh, and Genya was glad to see a little light enter her eyes again.
"Pfft, you didnt sniff ME out. You sniffed out the meat I was holding."
"Hmm. Maybe. Maybe it was the Cinnamon mixed scent that got me curious."
Ukiyi grinned at the memory. What a distant memory it had been, still was. But talking to him about it, made it seem like a ray of hope.
"My! I'm shocked, Shinazugawa-san. You remember that name?!"
Genya smiled and Ukiyo's heart lurched against her chest. God, how she had missed him. He was her entire childhood until that fated day when his family was taken away from him. She lost him along with them that day.
"I can't believe you're here, Genya."
He raised an eyebrow in defiance.
"Don't you know? 雪の降るところに,オオカミはついてくる。" (yukino furu tokoroni ōkamiwa tsuitekuru) (Where Winter goes, the Wolf follows. Although the exact translation would be snow. But it sounds better like this so!)"
"Koõ-kun.." This time Genya pulled her in for a kiss. It wasn't anything like when he'd claimed her lips earlier. He took his time, letting his lips talk to hers. Caress hers. He cupped her face with one hand, holding her body close with the other. It was like he was apologising to her. She grabbed the nape of his neck, letting her fingers play with his hair. She wanted him to know it was okay, and just how much she had missed him.
He pulled away with a sigh, and did something unexpected. He booped his nose against hers, and nuzzled the side of her face. It made her giggle.
"I missed you too, Yukiyo." He traced the outline of her lips, slowly and then suddenly pecked them. Ukiyo laughed again, startled at how playful he had suddenly gotten.
"We should leave, Genya. It's getting cold." She didnt want to. Not really. But she had to go find Kaoru, who she hoped had the sense to wander back to the village.
"You mean go somewhere warmer and continue? Sure." He scooped her up before she could pretend to deny it.
"But before that, there's a lot you need to tell me about. Like what happened to you earlier." His eyes roamed her face once again, concerned.
She nodded. She'd tell him everything. They had all the time.
Her Koõ-kun had returned. She would and could protect him this time. No matter what.
