Work Text:
Senkensha could see people that shouldn't be seen, she had been able to do so for as long as she can remember. It was when she was five that she found out these people weren't exactly normal, they were dead. She hadn't been able to tell the difference between normal people and these seemingly dead people. They all looked the same but as she got older she began to spot differences, their eyes, for example, didn't seem to shine as brightly as those who still had air filling their lungs. Sometimes their eyes held such sadness that she couldn't help but feel it as well as if these feelings were her own, others eyes held anger as they followed the ones who were the cause of her death.
She tried to tell her parents but they never believed her, they had blamed it on her having an overactive imagination. Though surely it shouldn't be normal for such a young child to be filled with morbid thoughts and for them to say such abnormal things, they should have shown more concern about their daughter. Senkensha continued to talk to the dead people she saw, ghosts as she had come to call them such. Some of them were nice to her and would listen when she spoke of her problems and would sometimes give her advice, some were not as kind but the young girl made sure to steer clear of them. Her mother would often see her speaking to the invisible beings and would nag about her being too old for imaginary friends and tell she needed to grow up.
So she became more discreet with her meeting with the ghosts afterward, she spoke less and less about the dead people she could see in her peripheral vision when they sat together for supper. Senkensha soon began to close herself off from others as she had realized that they would not understand her, her parents began to get more and more frustrated with her as she began to rarely speak and interact with anyone. The young girl didn't see a reason to anymore, she could tell they were growing tired of her and though it broke her heart to know this she couldn't bring herself to be surprised. She knew this would happen, one of the less friendly spirits had told her that she was worthless and soon enough her parents would get rid of her. Senkensha began to prepare herself for the day they finally snapped.
It happened when she was eleven, one of the village's elders heard her speaking behind his house even though no one was around to hear her. Senkensha had been conversing with a wandering child spirit, he was distressed because he had lost his way on his journey to the afterlife with his family who had all met their deaths in an accident while riding a train. Senkensha didn't know what a train was since she lived in the more rural side of Japan but decided not to ask as she was determined to help the spirit make it back to his family, she had never helped a lost soul pass on but she wanted to try her best. She had been asking questions related to the dead boy's death and had asked where it had happened the exact moment the old man had peered around the bushes, the elder's eyes widened and he immediately assumed she had been plotting someone's death or something of the sort. He hadn't even given her a chance to defend herself before he grabbed her by her kimono and proceeded to drag her towards the town square.
Senkensha had not struggled against the man's surprising strength as he hauled the young girl and began to shout his accusations about her killing people as sacrifices.
"She's been sacrificing people to the demons!" The elderly male shouted catching the small village's attention. "She was behind my garden chanting incantations to the Devil!"
That's a new one. Senkensha thought as her pale green eyes surveyed the gradually growing crowd. The village residents always had something to say about her, because to them she was strange, unnatural, different . It had never bothered her before because she didn't think that they were wrong, she found herself to be strange as well.
"I knew that girl was up to something."
"Mommy, what did the Majo do this time?"
"We should've known this was bound to happen, that girl is servant to the Devil!"
Voices whispered and murmured as the crowd grew, the old man still kept his tight grasp on her sleeve. Senkensha looked on with a neutral expression as she waited for them to finally do something with her, she wondered if they were going to kill her or maybe they would lock her away and she would rot alone for the rest of eternity. She wondered if that would be as bad as it sounds.
"What if she goes after someone else? It not safe with her around!" Someone called out and others nodded and muttered in agreement.
"You're right, the village isn't safe anymore with a Majo in it!"
It amused the so-called Majo how all these adults seemed to be afraid of one small girl, she hadn't done anything outright to prove that she was anything but a child with a gift. A gift that they refused to try to understand, People fear what they don't understand... She thought to herself and the shouting continued. She caught a glimpse of her parents' figures near the back of the crowd, she stared at them expectantly waiting for them to decide what they would do. Part of her wanted them to defend her but another part of her was telling her that would never happen. Her mother locked gazes with her then shook her head and turned away her father not far behind, Senkensha felt her heart drop and oddly felt like she should have been sad at this outcome but the tears would not come. She couldn't feel anything .
The village had come to a mutual agreement to run the Majo out of their village lest they become her next victims. She was left with only the clothes on her back and wasn't given anything to survive off of, Senkensha continued to walk onward even as she heard the degrading shouts and comments from the residents of the village she was never able to call home. At least this way she would be able to help other spirits she came across and wouldn't have to wait for them to come to her first.
Senkensha wandered around from town to town taking up small jobs here and there and running errands for people to earn enough money for food and other supplies. Most of the time she slept outside, she didn't mind it though. She had learned to use nature to her advantage from the kind spirit of an elderly man who lost his life in an unfortunate accident while camping himself. He had taught the young girl how to start a fire and hunt for small animals then later told her how to cook them properly and told her what plants were okay to eat and which ones were not.
Senkensha currently sat in a small hut she had built out of bamboo and tree roots sharpening and stick into a stake. A small but reasonable sized fire crackled a few feet in front of her hovering over the flame was a small skinned rabbit. As she kept her hands busy her mind began to wonder, why did she have the power to see those who were beyond the living? Why were there so many of them still roaming the plane of the living, how does one lose their way to the afterlife? None of it made sense to her but she didn't have anyone to ask these questions to so she tucked these inquires in the back of her mind for later. It would do her no good to dwell on these matters now, Senkensha stabbed the stake into the ground and shuffled closer to the fire to move her food off of the dimming flames. She took out a piece of cloth from her pale blue kimono and laid it upon her lap, just as she set the cooked meat on the cloth a small cry stopped her short.
Senkensha froze and waited for the cry to sound out again to reassure herself that she wasn't just imagining hearing the voice. Sure enough, the cry erupted once again only this time it sounded closer and she could faintly make out that its owner was calling out for someone. The young girl looked down at her dinner then indirection she heard the voice and contemplated whether or not it would be smart to go and investigate. Senkensha stood as the voice called out once again, she placed her dinner to the side before entering the darker parts of the forest. The voice continued to call out seemingly getting more and more desperate with each shout and cry. As she approached Senkensha could hear that it was someone calling for their parents, she wondered just what had brought them this far out into the forest.
The small brunette peered around a tree and saw two children, one male, and the other a female. They both seemed to be younger than Senkensha, the female sibling was a bit taller than her brother but still shorter than Senkensha. The smaller of the two siblings was clinging onto her peach-colored haori and looking around with tears in his red-tinted eyes. The sister had her hands cupped around her mouth as she continued to call out to their parents.
"Momma! Papa!" She shouted and Senkensha winced slightly at the volume as she moved from her hiding spot, the small boy noticed her first and hid behind his sister to which she looked down in confusion before following his line of sight and saw Senkensha as well. The two siblings stared wide-eyed in fear as the older female stepped out into the moonlight, Senkensha held her hands out with her palms facing them in a surrendering motion and continued to stare at them with a blank expression. She looked at the two children before her and studied them while she waited for them to relax. They both had black hair and matching red eyes that were wide with fear but still slightly dull.
Ah, they're deceased. Senkensha concluded once she had looked them over completely. She wondered if they had lost their way to the afterlife or were looking for their family to watch over them. The children caught her attention again when the elder sister stepped forward and stood in front of the smaller male as if to protect him. She held a hand up to her chest and clenched the fabric of her kimono and opened her mouth as if to speak but no words succeded to come out. Senkensha waited patiently with an impassive look for the girl to speak again luckily she didn't have to wait very long.
"Y-you can s-see us?" She asked hesitantly, and Senkensha nodded in affirmation. The girl let out a shaky breath and shook her head in what appeared to be disbelief.
"Are you lost?" Senkensha asked her voice came out soft but brittle from disuse, both of the children nodded.
"W-we were watching over Nii-chan with Papa and Momma b-but we got separated and n-now we can't find them..." The little brother said softly in a wobbly voice as he were about to burst into tear at any given moment.
"I can help you find them if you would like," Senkensha offered the siblings nodded slowly, the brunette then turned around to head back to her make-shift camp not bothering to look if the two spirits were following her. The older sister was knocked out of her shocked daze by the tugging of her brother, she blinked and shook her head again then rushed to catch up to the living girl with her little brother in tow. They walked behind the older girl in silence and sat down in front of the fire after she had done so first. "We'll head out in the morning, I know you would like to find them now but I still need rest unlike you two," Senkensha said as she began to slowly eat her hard-earned dinner. "I hope you don't mind," She said at looked up from her food with her empty golden eyes. The older sister smiled gratefully.
"No, no, it's okay, I understand. We're lucky to have even found someone who can even help us at all." She said trailing off with an awkward laugh. Senkensha nodded once before returning to her meal. "May we ask what your name is?" She asked politely trying to strike up a conversation to fill up the silence that surrounded the three of them.
"Senkensha," The older girl said monotone without looking up again and placed another piece of meat into her mouth. The female spirit hummed at glanced at her brother who only shrugged.
"Oh... um, well My name is Hanako, Kamado Hanako and this is my brother Shigeru," She said as she placed a hand on her brother's shoulder. They both waited for Senkensha to respond in any way but were only met with silence. The female spirit, Hanako, sighed and stared at the flickering flames.
"Um... How are you supposed to find our parents?" Shigeru asked meekly causing his sister to look back to him then at Senkensha with an expectant stare matching her brothers. The living female held a finger up as she finished chewing whatever was left of her supper, she tossed the stick the meat had been on into the dimming fire. Then without taking her eyes off of the dwindling flames, she spoke.
"I can see those who have died and have yet to pass on, each of you has a different presence but families tend to have similar presences. Since I have felt both of yours I can now feel your families as well if they are close by but since they aren't at the moment I only feel a sort of mental tugging between your presence and theirs which will lead me to wherever they are." The siblings blink at the number of words she had spoken without so much as taking a single breath, Senkensha stared at them blankly as if expecting them to ask something else. When she saw they had nothing else to say she turned back and crawled into her small hut and began to make her bed with the blankets she had managed to collect throughout her travels. As she was about to lay down she heard Shigeru make a small noise of discomfort and Hanako start to soothe him. She turned to them and noticed that the young male spirit was whimpering because of the decrease in light caused by the rapidly dimming fire.
Senkensha crawled out of her hut and moved over to her pile of twigs and sticks, she began to wordlessly put more wood into the fire and when that didn't make the blaze lighter she picked some dry grass and threw it towards the fire. Soon enough the fire was roaring and would hopefully last long enough till sunrise, the deceased siblings stared with wide eyes as the stoic girl made her way back to the hut and laid down again. Shigeru looked at the sleeping girl with a wide, grateful smile and scooted closer to his sister while humming contently.
The next morning Senkensha could feel the presence of the Kamado family closer than the day before.
Finally...
It wasn't that she didn't like having the two siblings around, it had taken longer than usual for her to locate a presence and it was beginning to discourage her a bit.
The three children now walked through the trees of a forest, she had heard shouts and screaming a little while ago and was started to wonder if something bad had happened. The sun was now beginning to set, Senkensha had not taken a break once throughout the day as she was too focused on getting the two spirits following her back to their loved ones. She was slightly panting and sweat streaked down her face, her kimono was dirty from tripping now and then and her shoeless feet were throbbing from the nonstop walking.
"Senkensha-san," Hanako called to the living girl, she received no reply. She sped up a bit and walked by her side wearing a small frown and she saw the state she had driven herself into. "You should rest for a bit."
"We're close now, there isn't any need for a break. I'll be fine," Senkensha waved off the deceased girl's concern.
"If we're so close then it's okay for you to take a quick break, it's not like we're going to lose them right away." The younger female tried to persuade her but her pleads fell upon deaf ears.
Senkensha kept walking, she kept moving forward even as if became hard to breathe even as her knees began to buckle and her legs gave out on her. She could hear voices now, they seemed to be arguing. She pushed a branch to the side and stepped forward there were six people, living ones . And four spirits that hovered around one person in particular, she locked eyes with a boy with burgundy hair and striking red eyes that matched Hanako's and Shigeru's. He stared at her for a moment before he began to take in the sight of her and what state she was in, his brow creased in worry as he stepped forward. Senkensha drew in a deep breath as she tried to gather enough sense to speak.
"You..." She broke off into a coughing fit, Senkensha blearily wondered when the last time she had drunken some water. The boy stepped closer and placed a hand on her left arm, Senkensha immediately leaned against him for support. "K-kamado... Tanjiro..?" She asked quietly, she heard the boy draw in a sharp breath. She felt him nod his head and felt relief wash over her, her eyes began to close and exhaustion set in at once. Before she let her eyes completely shut she looked over to where Hanako and Shigeru were hugging the other deceased members of their family.
Senkensha saw the young deceased girl look over and give her watery smile before nodding her thanks as she buried her face into her mother's chest. Senkensha let her eyes close and she fell asleep.
"Is she going to be okay?"
"Not to worry dear, I'll have her checked hourly throughout the night. You need to worry about your injuries and get some rest."
"Yes ma'am, and thank you so much. If there is every any for me to repay you-"
"No need for payment, you are demon slayers after all and taking care of you is our way of showing our gratitude."
Demon slayer...? Senkensha could hear voices but couldn't open her eyes, her body felt like lead and wouldn't move. It didn't bother her much she was much too tired to even think about waking up yet.
"See Momma, she's the one who helped us."
"Yeah!"
"Shh..., the poor dear still needs her rest."
More voices were around her this time, Senkensha could faintly decipher which voices belonged to Hanako and Shigeru. She assumed the third one was their mother. Somone shifted and she could feel a cold presence on her left side near her head.
"Thank you, me and my husband both are truly grateful for your help in bringing our children back to us."
Senkensha felt something warm spark momentarily in her chest before it was snuffed out and all that was left was an empty echo of some sort of emotion she once had. Part of her wanted to mourn the loss of such a feeling but the other told her she didn't need it, it would be of no use to her to get attached and begin to feel again. It would only result in pain. Senkensha tried to speak but her body would not obey her commands, she mentally sighed and let herself be dragged back into a dreamless sleep.
It was in the middle of the night when Senkensha woke up again, this time though she could move and look around. She sat up wincing slightly as her body protested against the movement she groaned at the realization that her entire body was still sore all over. Maybe she should have taken Hanako's advice and taken a break instead of plowing through the forest throughout the entire day. Senkensha looked down at herself and was delighted to see that she had been cleaned up and was wearing fresh clean clothes, she looked around the room before trying to stand.
Luckily she had regained her strength enough to stand properly, the young girl slowly made her way to the door. She opened it as quietly as possible and peered out into the hallway it was dark outside her room apart from a dim light filtering out from another room's door. Senkensha warily moved forward down the hall and approached the door, she hesitantly raised a hand to open the door before she swallowed her fear and proceeded to slide the door open silently. Inside the room were three futons on the floor the one on the farthest to the left was next to a small oil lamp, laying in the futons were three boys sleeping peacefully. Senkensha backed up to leave the room once she saw it's sleeping occupants as she moved to leave a small box in the corner of the room caught her eye. She looked at it for a moment before her curiosity got the best of her and she began to creep over to the small container.
She knelt in front of the box, it's wood was so beautiful and looked smooth. Senkensha didn't know what drew her toward it, she couldn't help but want to know what was inside it. Behind her, someone shifted and she tensed before looking over her shoulder. No one had woken up, she sighed in relief before turning back to the box. Deciding that lingering longer than necessary would result in being seen she decided to just take a peek and then leave.
The brunette placed a hand on the box's surface and was surprised when she heard something shift inside. Her eyes widened when the shifting stopped and a quiet scratching noise replaced it, feeling fear coil in her stomach Senkensha clenched her eyes shut and moved her hand to the box's small latch on the side and flipped it open. She opened one of her eyes and held her breath as the door began to open slowly and a small hand grabbed onto the side of the box's door.
The hand ushed the door opened and wide, pink eyes stared back into Senkensha's golden ones. The eyes stared ahead at Senkensha blankly before their owner shifted forward and began to crawl out of the box to reveal a small girl with black hair that faded into a fiery orange at the tips. The small girl wore a black haori and a pink kimono, on her mouth she wore a muzzle of sorts made out of bamboo. She tilted her head and stared at Senkensha with questions burning in her eyes.
Senkensha stared on with equally blank eyes but one could still the surprise in her eyes if they looked. Senkensha had just as many questions as the girl who was inhabiting the box, why was she in there? How did she manage to fit in there in the first place? Was she being held against her will? In the back of her mind, Senkensha remembered something Hanako had told her while they sat around the fire. She had two siblings that had not died with her family, her older brother Tanjiro and...
"Nezuko..." Senkensha muttered quietly, the girl, Nezuko perked up at the sound of Senkensha's voice. Senkensha raise a hand and pointed at the small girl, "Are you Nezuko?" She asked quietly, the small girl showed no signs of answering but instead leaned forward startling Senkensha. Nezuko continued to stare, her blank eyes seemed to bore into Senkensha's soul but it didn't hostile in any way. Nezuko crawled fully out of the box and leaned more into Senkensha's face causing the other female to lean back a bit in retaliation. Nezuko smiled with her eyes and leaned back so she could stand, as she stood she began to grow until she was her normal height again and stood looking down at the sitting girl.
Senkensha looked up at Nezuko and blink dumbly for a moment before she stood up as well and continued to stare and the girl before her. Nezuko glanced behind her before moving past her and kneeling by the futon in the middle and patting it's occupant on the head a couple of times. A low groan resounded from the waking person and Senkensha's eyes widened Nezuko looked up as if sensing her distress and motioned for her to come to her.
"Nezuko...?" Senkensha froze at the sound of the new voice, it was Hanako's and Shigeru's elder brother. The one she fell on top of when she fainted. He sat up with his back facing Senkensha and scratched the back of his head while letting out a small yawn, his sister tugged gently on his clothing while pointing the silent girl staring wide eyes at the pair. The boy turned around and when his shining red eyes landed on her the widened suddenly, he stared for a moment before smiling. "You're awake, that's wonderful." He said in a quiet voice minding his sleeping companions. Senkensha nodded silently and stepped forward, the boy, Tanjiro was his name? He stared at her before he seemed to sniff the air, Senkensha raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn't say anything. She sat down in front of his futon and fidgeted under his suddenly intense gaze, he seemed to realize he had been staring and stopped before chuckling sheepishly,
"Sorry, I- uh... So, how are you feeling?" He asked kindly.
"Fine, thank you," Senkensha said softly. Nezuko crawled over her brother and sat next to Senkensha before leaning against her and casually putting her head on her shoulder. Senkensha tensed at the contact but otherwise didn't react, Tanjiro smiled at his sister then looked back at Senkensha with a slightly harder stare. Senkensha returned his stare with a blank look waiting for him to point out what was bothering him. When he didn't speak up she decided to ask him herself.
"Is something the matter?" She asked in a clipped tone slightly uncomfortable with his intense stare. Tanjiro looked away for a moment before he inhaled through his nose again, Senekensha briefly wondered if that was a weird habit of sorts.
"It's just..." The older boy began but hesitated to continue, Senkensha waited and finally, Tanjro spoke. "I can't smell you, you have no scent at all. It's as if you're not even here." He explained, Senkensha raised an eyebrow. So he had a keen sense of smell, but what did he mean she didn't have a scent? "Normally everyone has their scent but you don't have one at all, are you concealing your presence somehow?" He asked as his eyes lit up in astonishment. Senkensha shook her head as a response, she didn't know of any way to conceal her presence completely. Tanjiro deflated a little and looked down, his face contorted with confusion at this new piece of information.
"What do you normally smell in a person?" Senkensha asked quietly. Tanjiro looked up from his lap and seemed to think for a minute before he came up with an answer.
"Aside from their normal scent, I smell emotions underneath." He smiled sheepishly and scratched his cheek. "It's kinda hard to explain..." He trailed off with an awkward laugh. "I guess you just smell empty..."
Senkensha stared in silence not sure how to react to what the older boy had just said. Empty? What was that supposed to mean? A flash of color behind Tanjiro caught her attention, she looked past his left shoulder and saw a woman with black hair and kind pale pink eyes and a beauty mark just under her mouth to the left. She wore a soft smile as she watched the children before her converse with each other. The woman noticed Senkensha's stare and her smile grew, she nodded her greeting to which Senkensha only nodded subtly before turning her attention back to Tanjiro, when she looked up she saw Shigeru and Hanako sitting next to their living brother another boy slightly older than the familiar spirits stood behind the oldest Kamado son with a curious look on his young face.
Standing to the side watching over the children was who Senkensha assumed to be the father of the Kamado children. She glanced at Tanjiro who still seemed to be mulling over the fact that she didn't seem to have a scent then looked back to the older male. The only difference she could see was, of course, the height and hair length. In his arms was a small boy that held onto his kimono and was staring at his older siblings with wide curious eyes, he looked at Senkensha and waved as he smiled shyly. Senkensha could only stare in bewilderment at the massive quantity of spirits that were attached to the boy and girl in front of him.
Tanjiro noticed her staring at the space behind him and looked around then back at her with a look of confusion.
"Is everything okay?" He asked with concern lacing his tone. Senkensha looked to the family of spirits again before she returned her gaze to the older boy. She looked down at Nezuko who was staring at her with her blank eyes. Senkensha let her stare drift to the floor as she debated whether or not to tell Tanjiro what she had seen, would it make him happy, angry, or upset? Would he even believe her? Would he be like them ?
"I saw something..." She muttered after a moment of silence, Tanjrio waited for her to elaborate. Senkensha closed her eyes tightly and took a deep shuddering breath, Nezuko seemed to pick up that she was distressed as she grunted slightly and nuzzled her face into her arm as if to comfort her. "They're right behind you..."
Tanjiro felt a shiver rush down his spine as the words left Senkensha's mouth, he quickly turned to look behind him but was met with nothing but the sliding doors and space. He looked back to the younger girl and his sister with a confused expression. He opened his mouth to ask but words seemed to fail him.
Senkensha immediately knew she should have worded that better the second she saw Tanjiro's eyes widen with fear and he turned around. He, of course, didn't see his loved ones behind him as she did but his mother laughed softly as she watched her son wildly look around the room before looking back to the brunette. He stared at her waiting for an explanation and Senkensha could feel fear creeping up her spine as she realized she would have to tell him. As quickly as she sensed her quelling fear she shut it down just as fast, there was no point getting worked up over this. She didn't even know Tanjiro on a personal level so she wouldn't be losing much if he did become angry at her for what she was about to say. Making sure to keep her expression neutral she looked back up to the older boy.
"You're family," She began, she felt her stomach drop as she caught a flash of sadness in his eyes. "Your family is watching over you, they always have been." Tanjiro eyes seemed to gloss over with unshed tears at her words, she pressed on. "They don't blame you for what happened to them or Nezuko," Tanjiro sat in silence for a moment then looked to his sister who stared back at him blankly then looked back to Senkensha.
"You..."
Here it comes...
"Thank you." Senkensha's eyes widened and she looked at Tanjiro dumbfounded, he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "You would think that after everything I've seen I wouldn't be surprised there was someone like you out there." Senkensha didn't know how to respond to this, yelling she could handle. But no one had ever thanked her before.
"You're not angry?" She asked softly.
"Why would I be?" He asked tilting his head to the side questioningly, Senkensha felt something warm begin to grow in her chest. She didn't like this feeling, it felt strange and uncomfortable. "You haven't done anything wrong," Tanjiro continued, Senkensha felt something wet on her cheeks but decided to ignore it. "Ah! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry!" Senkensha raised her eyebrows in confusion and raised a hand to her cheek when she pulled away tears were on her fingertips. Why was she crying? When had she started crying?
"I-I'm sorry... I hadn't realized-"
"No, it's fine!" Tanjiro rushed to reassure her waving her hands back and forth. "I should be the one apologizing!"
A low grain resonates throughout the room as one the Tanjiro's companions roll over in their futon, Tanjiro smacks his hands over his mouth realizing that he was being too loud. Senkensha takes this as an opportunity to leave as she gently moves Nezuko off of her and stands up. "I'm sorry for disturbing you," She bows politely the leaves before Tanjiro can say another word.
Senkensha lays down in her futons as tears still make their way from her eyes, she doesn't understand why but she feels happy for the first time in a long time. She briefly thinks it's because this time she got a different reaction, the young girl rolls over a closes her golden eyes falling asleep.