~Y/n pov~

There were loads of wisteria trees and past them were steps.

This is really it.

I took a deep breath before climbing the steps and observing my surroundings.

There were quite a few people here but I knew after final selection there would be a lot less.

"Everyone, we thank you for attending the Demon Slayers' Final Selection tonight." I saw two twins stood in front of us all.

Everyone turned their attention to them.

"Here on Mt. Fujikasane, the Demon Slayers have captured a number of demons alive. They are unable to leave." One twin stated.

The other twin continued, "That is because wisteria, which demons hate so much, blooms year-round from halfway down the mountain."

"However, they don't grow from this point onward, thus there will be demons about."

"To pass the Final Selection, you will need to survive here for seven days."

"And now, be in your way." They stated together.

~*~

The first day had been pretty uneventful. I had killed a few weak demons.

I hadn't seen anyone else either.

It was now morning so I decided to sleep for a few hours.

~*~

When I awoke, I realised not must've been about midday. I had a few hours before the sunset.

I searched for something to eat.

Fish is what I ate. I managed to catch a few from a nearby river.

I knelt down and splashed water onto my face. I've got this.

Walking a bit longer, I noticed night was beginning to fall.

I walked further. There was nothing to do but walk and try not be killed.

A scream in the distance made me alert.

I placed a hand on the handle of my sword and ran in the direction of the scream.

There was a huge deformed demon about to kill a boy in a yellow haori.

I jumped into action, quickly slicing off the hand reaching towards the boy.

The demon let out a roar of pain, "Why you! You bitch!"

I jumped into the air and free fell towards the demon.

Taking a breath, I readied my blade.

Snow breathing first form : collapsing frostbite

With a swift swing of my blade, I sliced off its head.

"How dare you." It growled as it started to fade away.

I knelt down beside the trembling boy, "Hey are you okay?"

He sniffled softly and turned to face me. The boy jumped into my arms.

"Hey.. what are you..." I trailed off, unsure of how to react.

The boy didn't respond and just wrapped his arms around me tightly, snuggling his face into my shoulder as he sniffled softly.

He seemed really scared.

I gently ran my fingers through his hair in an attempt to calm him, my other hand rubbed soothing circles on his back as he trembled in my arms.

A few moments passed before I realised he had fallen asleep in my arms.

Great... what was I meant to do now.

It was still nighttime so I couldn't just leave him here.

Well I could leave him here but I know I'd never do something like that.

I let out a huff of air, opting to carry the boy around with me and hope we don't die.

Standing up, I balanced the sleeping boy on my hip, his arms loosely wrapped around my shoulders.

I kept on hand on him for support and one hand on my blade, ready to attack.

We didn't make it far before another demon approached us.

I managed to take it out with a bit of struggle but then more demons turned up.

We were surrounded, there was no way I could take them all on while holding this boy.

Gently, I placed his down against a tree and turned to face the demons.

"A little girl?" One smirked.

"This should be easy."

I narrowly avoided getting hit.

It was hard trying to protect myself and the boy while being surrounded by demons.

Somehow, I was managing.

I had killed quite a few and there were only three left.

My state was not so good.

My arm was bloody from the several cuts I got from trying to protect the boy.

I panted as I tried to regain my breath.

My eyes widened as one charged at me with amazing speed.

There was no way I could dodge.

I waited for impact.

Thunder breathing first form : thunderclap and flash

I saw the sleeping boy take down the remaining demons with ease.

He was so fast. How was he fighting while asleep?

The boy suddenly shot awake and turned to see all the demons fading away.

He let out a yelp and wrapped his arms around my waist, looking up at me.

I stared down at the boy kneeling before me. What was he doing?

"Did you save me again!?" He asked.

"No, you.."

He cut me off, "Thank you so much. I thought I was gonna die."

No.. I thought I was gonna die...

He continued to wail, "I'm so weak. Please marry me and protect me forever. I don't want to die alone."

My eyes softened slightly. I knew the feeling of being alone all too well.

I also knew what it felt like to be weak. All I could do was watch.

"What's your name?" I asked him.

He reluctantly stood up and stood in front of me.

"I'm Zenitsu Agatsuma."

"Y/n L/n. Nice to meet you." I sent him a small smile.

He smiled nervously.

Zenitsu's eyes were all red and puffy from crying.

He looked a mess.

I could feel the tiredness catching up to me.

The sun was peaking through the clouds.

Thank god. It was finally morning.

I collapsed onto my knees and leant against the tree.

"Y/n?" Zenitsu started panicking, "Oh my god! Are you okay?"

The panicked boy knelt down beside me.

"I'm fine. Just let me rest."

The boy nodded, sitting down beside me.

My head fell onto his shoulder as I drifted off.

~*~

When I woke up, my head felt heavy.

Blonde locks obscured my vision.

I pushed Zenitsu's head off of mine and onto my shoulder and looked around.

Night had fallen again and we were still alive.

I shook Zenitsu gently.

He grumbled in his sleep and then wrapped his arms around me, nuzzling into my warmth.

"Wake up." I said gently.

He shifted again and opened his eyes sleepily.

After a few seconds, his face started to get red as he let go of me.

"I'm sorry." His cheeks looked like they were on fire.

"It's fine." I reassured him.

When another demon came up, Zenitsu wailed about being weak and left me to kill the demon.

I watched as it faded into ashes.

"You know, I understand what it's like to feel weak. And I can tell you you're definitely not weak." I told Zenitsu.

"Huh?" He had tears building up in his eyes.

"My parents.. they went on a trip and then they were gone. They never came back. And I thought if only I had gone with them." I choked back tears, "And my sister, I told myself I had to protect her because our parents were gone. But a demon attacked and she told me to run. If only I wasn't so weak... my sister wouldn't be dead."

Zenitsu stopped walking.

I turned to look at him, "What?"

He suddenly jumped towards me, pulling me into a tight hug.

My head was against his chest. I could hear his heartbeat.

Huh? Is this a hug?

My face felt wet. Am I crying?

Zenitsu rested his head on mine, "You're not weak. You're far from it. I'm sorry about what happened. But it won't happen again because you're strong."

I sniffled, returning the hug.

"Eh? Are you crying?" Zenitsu asked worriedly.

I nodded and hugged him tighter.

Zenitsu rubbed soothing circles on my back to calm me down.

After a few seconds I pulled away from the hug, "Thanks I needed that."

The boy proceeded to tell me about what happened in his life before that point.

It helped me understand him a lot better.

I didn't realise how long we had talked until I saw the sun rising again.

How many nights has it been now? I've lost count.

The next few days were filled with killing demons, talking and Zenitsu crying.

Before I knew it, I had made it through Final selection.

~*~

We walked through the wisteria and back up the steps.

Zenitsu was trembling and mumbling to himself so I decided to leave him alone for now.

I looked around seeing a few others from earlier.

The dude with a scar on his face was here, along with a girl wearing a butterfly hair clip and a boy with a blue cloud haori.

My haori was actually a similar colour. It was a really pale blue. (I don't care if you don't like blue)

The twins were stood at the front waiting for us all to arrive.

It seemed like this was it because they started talking.

"Congratulations." One of the twins started

"We're pleased to see that you have returned safely." The other twin stated.

"We will take your measurements, after which your rank will be engraved. There are ten ranks in all..."

"Kinoe, Kinoto, Hinoe, Hinoto, Tsuchinoe, Tsuchinoto, Kanoe, Kanoto, Mizunoe and Mizunoto."

"Currently, you are at the lowest rank, Mizunoto." They told us.

"And our swords?" The boy with the scar asked.

"Today, we will let you choose the ore for your swords. However, the swords will take ten to fifteen days to complete."

"Are you kidding me?" The boy huffed at the response in annoyance.

The twins clapped there hands and I heard the noise of birds flapping their wings.

I looked up and noticed some crows coming towards us.

One landed on my shoulder. I gently patted its head.

"We will now assign each of you your own Kasugai crow." They explained, "These Kasugai crows are primarily used for communication."

"Crow?" Zenitsu asked, "Isn't this a sparrow?"

I almost laughed at the sight of the small sparrow that landed on his hand.

"Who the hell cares about some stupid crow?" The boy with the scar threw the crow off his arm and angrily stomped towards the twins.

He grabbed the white haired twin by the hair, "I want a sword, you hear?"

I tensed up. I wasn't sure what to do. Should I step in or...?

Luckily, the boy in the cloud haori did something.

He grabbed the boy's wrist to stop him from harming the twin.

"Get your hands off of her." He stated sternly, "If you don't, I will make you."

"Who the hell are you?" The angry boy asked, "Let's see you try."

The boy in the cloud haori took a deep breath and then squeezed the other guy's wrist.

He backed off, clutching his wrist.

"Are you done chatting?" The black haired twin interrupted.

We all then when up to choose the ore.

I couldn't tell the difference by looking at them apart from the fact they varied in shape and size.

After a few moments, I picked a random one and hoped my choice didn't matter too much.

~*~

I pulled a handkerchief out of my pocket and gently wiped away the mud of Zenitsu's face.

"Well, see you around." I turned to leave.

"Wait.." Zenitsu grabbed my sleeve to stop me, "Don't leave."

"I have something to do first. I'm sure we'll see each other very soon though." I placed my hand on his head.

"How can you be so sure?"

"I can feel in it my gut. I know I'll see you soon. Stay safe." I told him.

Despite what he thinks, I know he is strong enough to protect himself and he is definitely not weak.

I flashed him one last smile before walking away.

~*~

"I'm sorry." I placed some flowers down on the graves and told my family about everything that had happened.

I hope they are proud of me.

~*~

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2032 words

A/n this is something I've wanted to write for a while so here it is.