muichiro: i remembered my brother getting brutally slaughtered by a demon when i was younger and the pure unfiltered rage that allowed me to murder that demon in vengeance despite how small i was... so i used that anger and determination to form my demon slayer mark
Sanemi losing his shit after realizing you were dragged into the Infinity Castle
Pairing: Sanemi x fiancé!reader
Word Count: 1,6k
Synopsis: You promised to stay behind. He promised he’d come back to you alive. But when you’re suddenly pulled into the heart of the Infinity Castle, everyhting's turned upside down.
Warnings: ohhh I LOVED that teaser y'all, did you see how Obanai literally sprinted to be on Mitsuri's side? That's exactly what I imagined here hehehehe, go have a lil fluff with your soon-to-be husband <3
His instructions were too clear to ignore.
„Stay right where you are, got it? If I catch you out there, I’ll beat the shit out of you. Promise it, jerk.”
“Fine, I promise. Even though I know you’d never beat me.”
“Don’t count on it.”
And even though you couldn’t help but pout at his rough tone, you did exactly what he told you and waited for him at your estate. After all, he told you it will be over after this night, that he won’t be a demon slayer when he returns.
You believed him. How could you not, given the fact that your fiancé is none other than the wind hashira, Sanemi Shinazugawa? The man you always despised but ended up loving instead. The man who seems as cold as ice on the outside but treats you like a princess when no one’s watching. Never in your life, you imagined quitting your work as a demon slayer to become a housewife. Not in a million years, not for a single person on this planet, you would’ve gave up your independence.
Until that jerk came around.
“Don’t worry, (y/n). I’ll kill enough of them fucking creatures for both of us.”
And you believed him. God, you believed every single word that white-haired maniac said. But somehow, you ended up breaking your own promise.
You went from changing into your sleepwear to finding yourself free-falling without ground in sight within the blink of an eye.
Out of instinct, you hold onto the little knife you always keep on your body for dear life, eyes scanning around the area with no real aim. You’ve never seen a place like this, never felt a more overwhelming aura. After years of slaying demons, the stinging smell in the air alone is enough to send a shiver down your spine.
“What on earth is that place?”
Like you have to ask that question. Your stomach drops below your knees, you can’t help but swallow hard against that tension that builds up deep in your throat. That’s exactly what Sanemi was talking about earlier on, the final battle. And you’re falling straight in the middle of it.
It‘s been years since the last time you’ve held a sword, years since you’ve actually found peace with leaving this part of your life in your past, years since that overwhelming sickness haunted after you. And yet, you have no other choice.
The air is thick with screams, smoke and the stench of blood. Just before you have time to realize it, your body slams into the ground harder than expected, your ankle twisting beneath the impact with a merciless snap. You cry out, barely having time to gather your bearings before a monstrous shriek rips through the darkness.
A demon charges at you with teeth like pointy blades and eyes burning with starvation.
Your fingers fly to your waist, ready to meet the handle of your tiny knife that’s still better than nothing.
Gone.
Your knife, your only defense, is missing.
Panic swells in your chest as you scramble backward, dirt caking your hands, adrenaline drowning your thoughts. The demon lunges. You squeeze your eyes shut. No, this can’t be happening. You can’t just die out here, not like this. Did you really lose your knife like a lousy beginner? What would Sanemi think if he saw you here like this? Would he be sad, disappointed even? Both of you met during your times within the corps, he learned to love that wild and reckless side of yours. What would he say, seeing you standing here with your glossy eyes squeezed shut, desperately grabbing onto the air where your knife would have been?
“I’m sorry, Sanemi…”
You wait for it. The stinging pain of teeth digging deep into your flesh, the lights in your head slowly but surely getting dimmer.
But it never reaches you.
THWACK.
Instead, a gust of wind explodes past you, slicing the demon’s head clean off. Its body crashes beside you with a wet thud. Did you just…dream that? But you didn’t do anything, you didn’t see anyone earlier. There’s no way someone was able to reach you that fast.
And then you hear it - his voice.
“Are you out of your goddamn mind?!”
You crack your eyes open. Sanemi’s standing over you, blade in hand, face redder than the blood soaking the ground while he stares down at you. His white hair is wild, his veins bulging, his lavender eyes glow with a fury that chills you more than the demon ever could. Suddenly, your near-death experience fading into the background.
“I told you to stay put! I told you!” he roars, grabbing your arm and yanking you to your feet, almost lifting you off the ground.
“I didn’t-!” you start, but he doesn’t let you finish.
“You promised, (y/n)! What the hell were you thinking?! This isn’t some damn training exercise. This is war!”
His voice cracks slightly and with it, so does your heart.
“You could’ve been killed!”
You’re about to snap back, because yes, he’s right, but his tone still stings and it’s absolutely not your fault you ended up here - until you see the way his hand trembles on your arm. He’s not just angry. He’s terrified. What does all of this look like from his view? Like you decided to go against your promise, like you don’t give a damn about his worries?
“I don’t even know how I got here,” you reply quietly, hand clutching his wrist in order to stop yourself from shooting back at him.
“I changed into my sleepwear, and the next thing I knew, I was falling. I think someone sent me here.”
Sanemi’s eyes narrow, his eyes dart around the area. The fallen slayers, the chaos as far as the eye can see. Those aren’t the demon slayers who agreed on accompanying the hashira on their mission. No, some of them aren’t even able to lift up their sword correctly, get whipped from this earth without even putting up a real fight. You can see the moment it clicks, the moment he slowly but surely starts to realize what’s going on.
"...No," he whispers.
"What?"
“It’s not just you.”
His voice is lower now. Dead serious.
“Everyone’s here. Even slayers who already quit, the rookies who fight like trash... Some of them shouldn’t even be able to fight anymore.”
You swallow thickly.
“You mean…?”
“They dropped every last one of us into this hellhole. They want a final purge.”
Sanemi releases your arm and runs a hand through his hair. He’s trying to stay calm, to think like the hashira he is. But when his eyes meet yours again, that cool command vanishes - replaced by raw fear. This is not a place for his fiancé. Didn’t he promise you that he’ll get home save, that the two of you will live a peaceful life after tonight? What if…what if something happens to you? What if he won’t be able to save you?
No. He can’t let that happen. There’s no way in hell that he’ll let a demon even touch you.
“I’m gonna say this once, and you're gonna listen for real this time.”
He steps closer, resting both hands on your shoulders, firm but shaking. You can’t help but rest your hands against his chest. Usually, his steady heartbeat is what lures you to sleep at night. But his heart is racing, your nerves are tingling and you know there’s only one way to make it out alive.
“You don’t leave my side. Not for a second. Got it?”
You nod, but his eyes blaze harder.
“No. Say it.”
“I won’t leave your side.”
“Again.”
“I won’t leave your side, Sanemi.”
He pulls you into his chest so suddenly you gasp. His arms wrap around you like armor, almost too tight and yet not tight enough. Out of instinct, you wrap your arms around him, crawl your fingers into his back in a desperate attempt to steady yourself. When he cups your chin and presses his lips against yours, you fail to exist for a moment. He brushes over you like he tries to memorize you like a map, like you might vanish into thin air if he doesn’t keep you close. Over and over, his mouth clashes against yours despite the ringing of destruction somewhere far away in your ears, holds you so close to him that you can feel his heartbeat vibrate right through you.
“You don’t get to die here,” he growls into your parted lips. “I gave up everything so you could live, damn it. I’ll carve a thousand demons apart if I have to, but you’re getting out of this with me. You understand me?”
Your fingers curl into the back of his haori. You can feel his heart slamming against your cheek while you press yourself even harder against him.
“Then you don’t get to die either,” you mutter into the fabric.
Sanemi’s silence is heavy until a low chuckle escapes his lips.
“…I won’t. Not if you're watching. After all, dying in front of my fiancé sounds like trash.”
Another demon scream erupts in the distance. Sanemi grabs your hand and though your knife is lost, he places one of his spare blades into your palm.
“Let’s go, princess,” he mutters, trying to mask the shake in his voice.
I think one of the things (among many many MANY) things that’s got me so fucked over Hakuji is his role as a caregiver. We’re so used to seeing female characters sidelined and reduced to ‘Team Nurse’ or ‘Team Mommy’ in anime and here Hakuji is, acting as a caregiver first and everything else second.
Just look at the way he describes his time at the dojo. Here is a man we’ve only ever seen as singlemindedly obsessed with developing his martial arts techniques. He’s describing his time LEARNING those martial arts. And yet we get maybe 30 seconds total of him training and the rest of the time being utterly Devoted to caregiving and to Koyuki.
This man, who lived for nothing as a demon but developing his fighting techniques, is literally learning to fight and yet he describes his time as “I spent my days and nights by Koyuki’s side, changing her bandages and towels, carrying her to and from the bathroom, talking with her and keeping her company. I’m a caregiver after all. Oh yeah and I did some training or whatever”
IT WASNT THE FIGHTING THAT ULTIMATELY SAVED HIM IT WAS THE CARING. IT WAS THE LOVE. and yet when it was ripped away he turned his back on it and fell back on fighting again. Hey would anybody mind if I went fucking crazy.
