Memory ( Platonic Sakonji Urokodaki x Young!Reader, Ft. Sabito )
[ Can i request urokodaki x orphan y/n? Urodoki became a doting grandpa 🤣Would it be fun? ]
(a/n: this takes place before Urokodaki adopted Giyuu and Tanjiro! Sabito and reader is around 5-6 years old. This starts of as a scenario, but it transitions into a headcanon form midway, I hope ya’ll dont mind (⌒_⌒;)
Sorry for the huge delay, thanks for requesting and i hope ya’ll enjoy reading! (*^‿^*) )
Genre: Starts out Angsty, but becomes Fluff midway.
Warnings: Urokodaki is kinda ooc if u squint enough, but it’s doting Grandpa Urokodaki so OuO;;;
It was a snowy day; the village was heavily covered with mountains of snow ranging from the rooftops to the stony ground. To everybody else, it was a day when kids could run wild and have fun in the winter season. Some might have made snowmen, others have made snow angels, and a few have gone as far as starting intense snowball fights.
For other children; yes. It was a perfect day just to go out and hang out with some friends. But not you.
You leaned against the hard stone wall, your fragile body shivering violently from the unforgiving winter cold. Clutching on your ragged and torn blanket even tighter, you sighed in exhaustion as a cold fog escaped from your mouth. You pushed your little figure to hug itself even tighter, trying desperately to warm yourself up, but to no avail.
You were filthy, hungry, and lonely. Looking up tiredly, you stared at the group of kids laughing and playing in the snow filled streets, never noticing once that there was a lone child in the corner that was shivering in the harsh cold. Your lips were pressed into a thin line, your eyebrows were scrunched together as you continued to eye the kids with underlying envy.
As each day passes by, you could gradually feel yourself decaying. What was once well tamed [H / C] hair was now heavily disheveled and filled with knots, clean [S / C] skin now filled with grime and dirt, and your once-vibrant [E / C] eyes sheds its childlike innocence and sparks the longer you suffer in the streets.
Tearing your lonely eyes away from the laughing children, you shifted your attention to the plush teddy bear beside you. It was the last present you ever got from your parents before they were violently murdered by a Demon. The first time you saw the toy, it looked so vibrant and new, but as months passed, it soon deteriorated and had lots of tears and holes in it.
Nevertheless, you still loved the toy to death.
Holding it close, your eyes eventually began to flutter as you gradually began to feel tired. A pained sob escaped from your lips as you struggled to fight back against tears threatening to escape your eyelids. You were completely drained that you lost your sense of your surroundings, as you overlooked the sound of snow crunching that was approaching you.
Soon enough, you felt a figure in front of you, and the delicious scent of hot tea reaches out to invade your senses. Slowly looking up, a man with a red Tengu mask was kneeling in front of you, extending out his hand to offer a cup of hot tea.
Your initial reaction was confusion; who was this man? Why was he there? Why was he offering you tea? You stared at him, your eyes flickering with uncertainty and slight hesitation. He grunts softly, apparently understanding your reluctance towards him.
"You are cold, are you not?" He speaks out, his gruff voice surprisingly filled with warmth and concern.
You were taken aback from the tone of his voice; nobody had talked to you like that in months.
You kept staring at him, your mind whirling around with conflicting thoughts. You felt so unsure if you were to trust this man; he was a total stranger! And you knew better than trusting strangers so easily. However, you could detect the radiant warmth coming from him. You could sense his intentions, and it felt so genuine and true.
Steadily, with your hands shaking, you lifted your palms to accept the cup. It was hot, but it was a comforting kind of warm. You placed the edge of the cup in your mouth, and you started drinking the tea. Heat started rushing all over your body as you kept finishing your drink.
He asks for your name, how you came about in the streets, and if you had anywhere else to go. After a brief silence, he asks where your parents were in a cautious tone.
Suddenly, visions of the dead bodies of your parents erupted in your mind, and you could feel that your chest was beginning to hurt again. The familiar feeling of overwhelming sorrow began to overwhelm you, a knot forming on your throat as the familiar feeling suffocated you once again. You couldn't stop a sob from escaping your mouth, and you attempted to hide in your ragged blanket as tears began to spill away from your eyelids. The man sees your discomfort, and places his hand on your little head to tenderly caress it in an effort to console you.
Then, little quick crunches of snow speedily approached you, as a warm and thick blanket was placed over you. Your tears came to a halt as the sensation of an unfamiliar blanket was draped over you, and you looked up to meet a pair of lavender eyes that belonged to a male child who looked about your age. The boy gave you sheepish smile, and he turned his gaze to the adult who was consoling you. You learned that the lavender-eyed boy's name is "Sabito", and the old man who generously offered you tea is "Urokodaki".
In a blink of an eye, you unexpectedly find yourself sitting in a ramen shop with a delicious Ramen bowl in front of you. Urokodaki, after hearing your stomach rumble with hunger, offered to buy you a meal at a nearby restaurant. Sabito expressed his enthusiasm at this, and after seeing how much he seemed to trust Urokodaki, your doubt and uncertainty seemed to fade away as you meekly accepted his offer.
At that moment, you could sense so much comfort and tenderness radiating from both of them. It's as if all the suffering you've experienced over the last few months had simply been washed away. Yet you were still hesitant; what if it was all just a joke? They had to leave at some point, and you were afraid that you would wound up again in the cold streets.
That is, until Urokodaki offered you to stay with him and Sabito.
They were kind enough to help you out in the streets. They fed you, and they gave you a new blanket for much needed heat as you rotted away. Nobody would help you, nobody even glanced at you. They could well have ignored you like everyone else, but no, they genuinely made an attempt to help you in such difficult circumstances.
So, you agreed to go with them. Which proved to be the greatest decision you ever made.
Urokodaki's cottage was situated on a mountain, and although it was small, they nevertheless did their best to make room for you.
The first few days have been rough. Despite living under the roof a being surrounded by warm blankets, you spent those days lying awake in cold sweat. You tried your best to adjust, you really did, but the familiar feeling of sitting on ice cold gravel never seemed to leave. Not only that, as soon as you try to shut your eyes to get some sleep, the images of your parents will flash in your head, leaving you a whimpering and sobbing mess.
With Urokodaki's keen sense of smell, he could smell your distress over a mile away. He knew that you had a hard time to adjust, it wasn't surprising. However, it pained him how absolutely strong your sorrowful scent was. He could hear your loud whimpers and sobs from your room, and he felt his chest ache from your suffering.
But nothing could prepare him from what was happening behind your closed door.
There you were, thrashing around in your futon, blankets and pillows thrown haphazardly in every possible direction. Tears were continuously running down your face as you hiccuped and sobbed aggressively.
Urokodaki felt his breath hitch and, in a flash, he knelt at your side and softly raised your head to his lap. He placed a hand on your head, and he started to draw soothing circles to calm you down. Minutes passed, and it seemed like you had calmed down a bit, but tears were still running down your eyelids. After much thought, he started to sing a gentle lullaby, filling the room with soft hums and melodies.
After a while, he felt you relax as you were finally greeted with sleep. In the corner of his eye, he saw you grip onto your worn out teddy bear even tighter, and made a mental thought to do something special that he hoped will lift your spirits up.
The next morning, you woke up, pleasantly surprised that you had a decent amount of sleep, given that you haven't had a good night's sleep in ages. When you started to come back to your senses, you felt another person in the room with you.
You shifted your body to face the unknown figure, only to be greeted with a sleeping Urokodaki. He was sleeping on the cold floor, his body laying just a few feet away from you.
Days pass by, and you found yourself growing closer to Urokodaki and Sabito. You spent most of your time Sabito, and it got to the point where you even considered him as your brother. He liked to play Sword Fights with you, proudly announcing his dream to become the best version a man could ever be.
On the other hand, Urokodaki acted more like a caretaker to you. He took care you, fed you meals day after day, buying you new clothes, and even went as far as carving you little trinkets and toys to play around with. Soon enough, the harsh winter had ended, and just like the colorful spring blossoms, you transformed into a bright and optimistic child again.
You were forever grateful for Urokodaki's generosity. So of course, you would always try to help out Urokodaki in anyway you can. Cleaning the house, taking care of the plants, accompanying him in travels, you name it.
There was never a dull day when both of them were around. Laughter always filled the cottage as you and Sabito ran around, while Urokodaki silently stood there, keeping a watchful eye on the two of you. If you looked close enough, you swear you could see a smile peeking through his mask.
You later learned that Urokodaki is a trainer for upcoming Demon Slayers. Urokodaki would tell you and Sabito stories of his adventures; and they never failed to entertain both of you. While Sabito was eager and excited for the day when Urokodaki would start training him, you were still deciding whether or not you would join him and become a Slayer yourself in the near future.
Stargazing was also a thing where you, Sabito, and Urokodaki would bond about. You and Sabito would lay your heads on Urokodaki's lap as the two of you would excitedly point at the stars above. Urokodaki would gently caress your heads every once in while, and he would occasionally talk about interesting facts about the stars and moon in the night sky.
Urokodaki is a man with few words. Naturally, he only spoke when absolutely necessarily, however, there is a saying that actions speak louder than words.
On nights where you would have nightmares, Urokodaki would immediately be there for you.
"It's all right, little one. You'll be okay. I'm here for you."
He 'd reassure you, comfort you, and sing you lullabies until you were overcome by sleep again. Without fail, whenever you needed him the most, he was always right on time.
One day, he took notice of your ragged and torn up teddy bear, and asked he could borrow it. At this point, you grew even closer to him, so you trusted him and let him borrow your precious toy.
After a long day of doing chores and playing with Sabito, you were all huddled up on a fire as you all ate your supper. Sabito was rambling about random things, and you were nodding and laughing as he continued on to explain things in a "manly" manner. Urokodaki sat there in silence, watching how the two of you seemed to get along so well made his heart swell with pride. He had a surprise for you, and he hoped that you would like it.
"[ Y / N ]." He spoke. You turned your head to face Urokodaki, and you felt yourself freeze in your spot as you noticed the object in his hands.
It was your teddy bear; all patched up and clean, just like how it looked like so long ago.
It looked like Urokodaki really outdid himself; there wasn't any tears and holes where it used to have, it's dull color had reverted back to the vibrancy it used to have, and its eyes were now full of life.
Warmth quickly spread over your chest as you continued gazing at your beloved teddy bear. A gasp of disbelief came out of your mouth as your eyes began to water. You couldn't contain yourself as you suddenly launched yourself in the direction of Urokodaki, capturing him tightly in a warm embrace. A big smile transformed your lips as you shouted out your gratitude to Urokodaki; the latter only laughing softly as he returned your embrace with utmost sincerity.
Slowly, he swayed side by side as you continued your assault at him. Sabito gazed at the two of you with a loving expression on his face, as well as the feeling of joy and love continuing to engulf him. Under his mask, Urokodaki felt the sides of his lips curled upward, as he also tried to fight back against the tears that threatened to fall as you continued to nuzzle on his shoulder.
Though, nothing could prepare him for the words that you would mutter out as tears sheer joy fell from his cheeks.
"Thank you. I love you, Urokodaki-san."