Chapter Text
You lived a peaceful life.
But now, your hands bound and your mouth muzzled of all things, you couldn't help but just be annoyed.
You had gotten rid of the enemy, the demon, why were they calling you a killer? Why were these people who cherished your family suddenly spitting apon you?
You supposed you knew, afterall, they liked your family, not you.
You were always the weird one, the sore thumb. You talked weird, breathed off and were too...scary. No kidding, a guy once pissed his pants when you genuinely glared at him. You've always had a bit of an intimidating gaze, not to mention how even working out little you'd still have hella muscles. And you worked alot. How could you not? Your beloved family, who you adored, were martial artists. And as the eldest child, you were to take over the dojo and train the younglings.
You put your everything into it, despite being a woman physically, you had the heart of a warrior, and, unfortunately, the mind of someone who used to live in a much much later time.
Your determination knew no bounds.
Neither did your stupidity apparently.
Which lead to why you were muzzled, which was because you might've bitten one... couple.... few...OKAY ALOT OF PEOPLE, alright? They scared you! You had just gotten off the high of killing a demon, sue you for immediately attacking when people ran in yelling. Again, they scared you! Hell, even tried to pin you down, they deserved to get bitten.
When they finally managed to tie you up, and place that damned metal rope gag, after you promptly bit the wooden one into two, you were covered in blood both yours and not yours. You could feel the way that the stupid metal rope dug into the corners of your mouth, how it was splitting the skin open and making your cheeks bleed. Drool and blood dripped in equal measure.
If you ended up looking like Jeff the Killer after this, you would be pissed.
You were already quite pissed, apparently further fueling the fear that the villagers had about your, quote unquote, demonic gaze. They decided the best way to deal with that was to throw a potato sack over your head. So...
You were blind and relying solely on your hearing as they dragged you along, and all you felt was fear. For all that tough act when beating the demon until its regeneration couldn't catch up and allowed it to die, you were terrified of dying. You'd lose your family if you-
.....
Right. The demon killed them. What family did you have left to stay alive for?
Suddenly, you weren't as terrified, instead almost resigned. You hadn't lived a bad life, maybe you had to work your body to its limits sure, but it wasn't bad. Wasn't too hard either.
You'd always breathed this certain way that-
...oh fuck.
“-ou will be killed, do you understand, Himeru?”
You grunted slightly as you were kicked, having not realized you were being asked a question till you heard your surname being called out. Someone sighed, and the voice who spoke next sounded like the village's head.
“Its a disgrace to call you a Himeru, but alas. Go and-”
“-Drop her in the river.”
What?
These fuckers wanted you to drown? What the hell! Suddenly as you became still, you were thrashing around, balling your tied hands into fists and kicking your leg up to hit the nearest thing.
Your breathing came in just right.
‘crUNCH!-’
A sickening sound, followed by a yell and the someone holding you, dropping you. You immediately twisted, landing on your hands before you pushed upwards and began booking it.
You loved your family, and would willingly drown for them.
But they would've been sad if you suffered that much.
So you ran, and ran, and ran.
Past hoards of people, past the yells and attempts to grab you. You ran into the forest, going by pure instinct. You tripped and you fell, so you jumped and you ran faster.
Eventually the yells became silence as you made your way further into the forest, stumbling to a stop. Your breathing was heavy but precise, a pattern you hadnt learnt but were rather born with.
You knew it in your bones.
You growled, screaming through the metal gag. You pull and thrashed, trying to break apart the rope holding your arms together. You quickly found it was made of the same reinforced with metal rope that you had in your mouth, you just hadnt realized because of how it had rubbed your skin raw enough to be only pain.
You growled again, animalistic sounds escaping you im flurries of anger as you threw yourself until you found a tree. There, you moved up and down toll the sack around your head caught, until you could let herself fall to remove the stupid thing.
You hissed, nails digging into your own skin, your elbows specifically from how they were tied, as you looked around, trying to find anything helpful.
Predictably, you found nothing.
You screamed out in frustrated pain once again, standing and going to another tree to try and saw the damned rope off. It, again, didn't work, and you were left with bark sticking to your flesh through the gaps in your skin. You huffed and panted, breathing in that pattern you knew you shouldn't, pulling and growling like a wild animal.
Suddenly, you heard footsteps.
“well well! How unflashy, when i heard so much growling i thought it was a demon! Tho they cant go in...sun...light...?”
The voice petered off in shock, and you quickly turned a full 180 to face them, finding, much to your shock, the sound hashira himself.
You found very quickly you did not care enough to be amazed for more than a couple seconds.
The guy who called himself a god seemed surprised, almost horrified. He blinked, then quickly approached, the hand of his that was on his weapon lowering itself to extend towards you.
You flinched back, growling again, less loud and instead low and dangerous. He paused a second, then spoke again.
“hey, its alright. Let me help you out of those ropes, alright? Thats all im gonna do.”
He said, and you narrowed your eyes at him, scrutinizing. You shouldn't trust a stranger, but he wasn't exactly one. It didn't matter, since unfortunately, you needed the help. You couldn't get out of the bindings by yourself, you needed him to help you.
Slowly, you steadied your breathing to show your...approval(?) of his request, since tho your breathing had remained precise, it hadn't exactly remained steady. You swallowed best you could, taking in a mouthful of drool and blood, before letting yourself into a cross-legged sit. The hashira eased up slightly at this, carefully walking over, making sure you could see him, before dipping behind you.
You hissed in pain as his hands, tho gentle, touched the raw, bleeding wounds on your arms. He unwrapped the rope in seconds.
“Ill take the gag off now.”
His hand moved again, untying the rope and peeling it with a sickening squelch from your mouth. You heaved a sigh, bringing your arms foward to inspect the damage. That was very much going to scar...
You stood and turned to the hashira, arms slightly limp as you bowed to him. It hurt like hell, but you managed to move your lips, saying;
“th....t-....tha- nks.”
His brows furrowed, and he stood up, offering a hand to you.
“Hey. I know a good doctor, if you stay with those wounds like they are, they'll get infected. Come with me.”
You straightened up best you could and looked at him, debating your options. You really should go with him, he wasn't wrong whatsoever about the infections. You narrowed your eyes, before heaving out a soundless breath, and taking a step towards him.
You almost stumbled, and he was quick to grab you by the shoulders, the only area of your arms that wasn't injured.
“plu...pl...please.”
You said best you could, the adrenaline dying and leaving you with both immense pain and immense exhaustion. Without another word, he gently picked you up bridal style, and you practically melted into the warmth of his body. The warmth, and the almost odd feeling of safety.
Swifter than you could be, he began running, careful not to jostle you as he did so. You weren't sure how much time passed, just knew you were sleepy enough to barely be able to register the panicked voices suddenly around you.
Painstakingly, you opened your eyes.
“Yeah, im not sure. Her breathing is definitely in line with total concentration, constant even, but she doesn't seem to be a demon slayer.”
“do you think shes a soon-to-be? Maybe her trainer did this to her as some sort of cruel punishment, or equally cruel training.”
“i just cant believe it. In either case, whoever did this, they're...”
The voices petered off, and you took a big gulp of air before letting your voice flow out.
“k...iller. Horns. Fa...ngs.... Claw....s.”
You could feel eyes turn towards you.
“Family....gon..e... thought....they... thought i....killed...fam...ily...”
Tears streamed down your face, thankfully not getting into your wounds as, at some point, you were laid down.
“a demon killed your family, and this 'they' thought you did it..?”
A female voice questioned, and you nodded best you could, eyes glassy. You let out a rough laugh.
“wanted...me....to drown. Killer. Punish..ment. Drown.”
A hitched breath. The woman, whoever she was, gently took your hand in hers. Soft, small and warm.
“its alright. You're safe now, i promise.”
You sniffled, forcing yourself not to frown as to not cause more pain. With whatever strength you had left, you softly squeezed her hand. The man, hashira, approached then, you knew because you recognized his voice when he spoke.
“Hey...you know breaths. Can you follow what i say?”
You nodded.
“Alright. Try to focus on imagining the oxygen in your blood. In the same manner you breathe to make it flow, try to make it focus. Focus it on your wounds, on anything that hurts, for as long as you can. Its called recovery breathing, it'll help you internally while we work externally.”
You took a deep breath in.
Imagining your blood cells was weird, but you managed, complying with the Hashira's request. You imagined it, then willed it, and amazingly, it worked.
“Perfect, just like that. Keep doing that.”
You continued, closing your eyes and just allowing yourself to focus on nothing more than your breathing.
You spent your whole life breathing a way you weren't supposed to, didn't know by heart, just so you could attempt to fit in. Lighten the burden on your family. Now, allowing yourself to just be, it made a weight you didn't know was there lift.