Earlier
It was quiet as usual and Eri had fallen asleep in her bed. There were visible trace of tears on her cheeks, already dried some time ago. Her knuckles were clutching, as if she was trying to grab onto something. Something or someone. Someone that held her gently. Carefully. How long had it been since she felt such soft touch?
Her dark room was suddenly interrupted with a bright pinkish light that glow in the middle of the room, in front of her bed. The sudden brightness caused the young girl to wake up from her sleep. Eri tiredly went to a sitting position, wondering what was that.
Her eyes widened at the sight of the bright light. After a few seconds, the light starting to disappear and Eri saw there was someone else in the room with her.
It was a girl; with long black hair that ended with orange tip and a pink ribbon tied to her bang and pale pink eyes that appear a lighter color around the rims of their irises. She was wearing a light pink kimono with a hemp leaf pattern, the lining a paler pink, with a red and white checkered obi and a thin piece of orange thread looped and knotted around her waist, with another band of green above it under her long, dark brown haori. The girl also had a bamboo mouthpiece hanging by one thread while the other one had snapped.
The girl looked confused, despite the blank expression she had on her face, as she stared at one of her hand. Eri was definitely surprised by the girl's sudden appearance. As far as she knew, her room was strictly guarded. And after she tried to run away from Overhaul and was captured again, the security tightened.
Eri finally plucked up the courage to ask the girl out loud, " How...How did you get in here?"
The girl turned her head towards Eri.
" Who are you?" Eri continued.
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Nezuko stared at Eri; not expecting another company in the room with her. Eri was wearing a plain, short-sleeved dress, which is a dirty, pale tan color, and her arms were wrapped in bandages. Nezuko tilted her head.
Did she get hurt? How? She looked so young, how did she even get hurt?
Nezuko stood up and began to walk over Eri's bed. The pale blueish gray haired girl gasped and scooted backward, her eyes were filled with fear and suspicious. Eri didn't know who the girl was, so she didn't know if she would bring her harm or anything. That, and often those who got near her had bad attention.
Nezuko stopped at the end of the bed when she saw Eri backing away in fear. The demon girl tilted her as she observed Eri; she was confused by Eri's appearance, that could be clarified as a demon if she was back in her world, yet, for some reason, she couldn't sense any demonic energy from Eri. Back in her world, demons could sense each other by their aura energy. The ones with high ranks usually had stronger aura.
Eri didn't give off any kind of demonic aura and because she looked so terrified at the moment, Nezuko decided to not do anything so she wouldn't scare her more. The silence was troublesome for Eri, and she was still frozen on her spot, not knowing what to do next.
Tap tap tap
Eri's eyes widened upon hearing the footsteps outside getting louder. Someone's coming.
" Hide!" Eri cried out to Nezuko. She didn't know who Nezuko is, but it'd be a very bad idea if Overhaul or any of his subordinates found a stranger in her very guarded room.
If they found Nezuko, Overhaul would surely killed her -- and Eri didn't like the idea if people getting hurt because of her. Eri heard the door being opened and looked back to the spot Nezuko was just now --
-- only to find her already disappeared.
" Hey, kid! Look what I got for you!" It was one of Overhaul's subordinates with his bangs covering his eyes.
Eri tried to focus her attention to the man, but she was also bewildered at the fact that the girl she just met earlier suddenly vanished that easily. The man held out a box of a toy.
" A new toy for you! Shining and suitable for a little girl like you!" The man said, his false sweet voice could be heard so clearly.
Eri knew that if her so-called-father didn't order this man to be her caretaker, he wouldn't even bet an eye on her. This was all to please his boss only.
As usual, Eri didn't reply to any of the man's words. The man continued to brag about the toy before set it down among the other toys he had bought for her and bid her goodnight as he closed back the door. Honestly, Eri didn't even wanted to play with those toys, so why did he kept buying them? What a waste of money.
Eri looked around slowly. Where did the girl with kimono go just now?
" H-Hello?" She called out. Or was it just her imagination? Was she really that lonely she started hallucinating?
" Hmph!"
Eri jumped when Nezuko suddenly popped out from under the bed, throwing her arms up as if she was saying, "Surprise!"
" Did...Did you hide under the bed?" Eri's eyes widened. As far as she knew, the gap under her bed couldn't have fit someone with Nezuko's size. Eri used to hide under her bed since she had a small body, but the dust kept making her sneeze and uncomfortable.
It was then Eri noticed that Nezuko seemed...smaller. Just a moment ago, she looked like a teenager, around 14 years old, but now, she was the same size as Eri. The kimono also looked too big for her as Nezuko started to crawl on top of the bed.
Yet, the sight was only temporary when her body suddenly grew bigger and was exactly the same when Eri first landed her eyes on her. Nezuko nodded for Eri's question before and the bamboo mouthpiece on her fell on the bed.
Is it her quirk? She could manipulate her size? Eri wondered. She was still keeping the distance between them, but she didn't felt as much as threatened as before.
Nezuko tilted her head, staring at Eri. She then pointed to Eri's bandaged arms and legs.
Eri was first confused but then caught on, " Oh...my bandaged arms and legs? You...want to know why there are bandages?"
Nezuko nodded.
Eri hesitated. How could she put what Overhaul did to her in words? Even remembering those things made her trembling in fear. Eri brought her knees to her chest and hugged herself as she rocked forward and backward.
Fear started to swirl inside her as Eri experienced the memories where she was harmed. It was painful. So painful. And the fact that she was healed after being injured before getting hurt back was torturous. Her breath become heavy, her body shaking and she couldn't find her voice.
Nezuko watched Eri curled up on the bed, tears began to appear on her red eyes. Just looking at Eri...reminded Nezuko of her youngest sister Hanako.
" Onee-chan..." Hanako called out to Nezuko.
Eri was just losing herself in her dark memory when suddenly she felt herself getting wrapped in Nezuko's arms and was pulled into a hug. Nezuko gently stroked Eri's hair. She remembered how Tanjirou would comfort her when she was sad. He once sang her a lullaby to calm her down when she was out of control, but since Nezuko couldn't really talked, she proceed to hum instead.
Knock knock
Little bunny from the little mountain
Why are your eyes so red?
Nezuko looked down at Eri's red eyes before slowly rocking her body forward and backward in the rhythm of the lullaby.
When she was small, my mother ate a fruit of a red tree
And that is why my eyes are so red.
Nezuko repeatedly hummed the lullaby as she cradled Eri gently in her arms. Eri was taken back by Nezuko's action, but she was most surprised by the way she was held.
She was held with such gentleness that the tears in her eyes were spilling out by the sudden act of kindness. Eri held onto Nezuko's haori, gripping tightly on the fabric.
There it was, the same warmness and tenderness she got. Eri remembered how it similar with the boy she met before. He held her with protective aura and Eri didn't remember to be held like that. Now, as she felt the same, pleasant touch, Eri found herself not wanting to let go. She let herself cried quietly as she embraced Nezuko.
After a few moments, Eri stopped crying and her eyelids felt heavy as she rested her head on Nezuko's chest. Nezuko noticed that Eri looked sleepy, so she gently put her head under the pillow and tucked her in under the blanket as well. A few large strains of hair covered Eri's face, so Nezuko pulled off her pink ribbon on her hair and tied it on Eri's hair instead.
" Don't go..." Eri wrapped her small arms around Nezuko's arm, pulling her closer.
Nezuko didn't object and nodded; she settled herself beside Eri and wrapped her arms protectively around the small girl. Not even a few seconds later and both girls were already asleep.
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" Wake up! Wake up! Hurry!"
Nezuko's eyes shot opened when she felt her body was strongly shaken. She looked up to see a panicking Eri, who had both of her hands on Nezuko.
" Someone's coming! You need to hide!" Eri warned, her eyes darting back to Nezuko and the door.
Nezuko hopped off the bed and shrunk her body before slid under the bed. Sure enough, a few seconds later, the door creaked opened. Nezuko saw there were two pair of feet standing in the doorway.
" We need to move." One of them claimed and the second guy went over the bed to fetch Eri.
Eri wished she could checked on how Nezuko was doing, but even the way her eyes move would gave away Nezuko's current location. As she was held in one of Overhaul's subordinates, she noticed the way Overhaul was staring at her hair.
The masked man held out his hand and Eri flinched as she felt his fingers tugging on her hair.
" Where did you get this?" Chisaki Kai tapped on the tied pink ribbon on Eri's hair.
Eri's eyes widened and she felt the blood drained from her face. What? When was the ribbon on her hair? Didn't it belonged to the pink-eyed girl?
" I -- I picked it up." Eri managed a lie despite her feeling terrified at the moment.
" You picked it up." Chisaki raised an eyebrow as he repeated the girl's lie.
Eri nodded. Oh God, what if they went to check her room and found Nezuko under her bed? What should she do? If they found Nezuko, the girl would be killed for sure.
Chisaki turned his head to the room, not saying anything for a few moments. He then turned back to Eri.
" Nemoto." Chisaki held out his hands and took Eri from him. " You know what to do."
Eri's eyebrows knitted in confusion; what was he doing? As she was carried away by Chisaki, the man made sure they were quite far away from her room before saying,
" If there's someone else in your room, you should have told me. Now look at what have you done."
Eri felt her stomach dropped as she heard a distant explosion. Coming from her room.
No...
Oh no...
A few seconds later, Nemoto came back to them.
" I tried to make the person come out from their hidden place, but when I use my quirk, they didn't answer. They must have some kind of quirk that could deny mine, but I set off some bomb in the room. No one could escape that easily from the explosion. I even blocked the door." He reported. Nemoto's quirk allows him to force his victim to answer truthfully after he asks them a question.
Eri began to tremble.
They really killed the girl...
Chisaki hummed, " No matter. We're getting out of here anyway." As he passed Eri back to Nemoto, he made sure to glare right into her fearful eyes.
" You've never learned, do you, Eri? Another death happened because of you. Their death is all your fault."
Eri's eyes began to tear up again; another death happened because of her...It was all her fault...
Eri bit her lips and let a few tears fell out.
" I am so sorry..."
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The explosion had blown away the door of the room, so Nezuko had no trouble of getting out of the blazing room.
Half of her haori were burnt off, but the injuries she got from the explosion had healed and not even a scratch was on her skin.
What was that? Why did the room exploded? And why did Nezuko had the urge to speak when the man asked her a question? It was like some kind of power that force her to speak, but since she was still unable to, all she could do was opening her mouth and let out quiet hum.
Nezuko didn't like that. She didn't like what was going on.
She remembered how terrified Eri looked. How her voice trembled when she was talking to one of the man. It took Nezuko a few seconds to realize that Eri was with dangerous people.
Angry frown was on Nezuko's face as she began to sprint through the hallway.
Eri was in danger and Nezuko was determined to save the little girl.
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