Archive of Our Own ^beta

Quite frankly, in Uzui's opinion, this situation was absolutely, definitely, NOT flamboyant. 

Oh, the fight was incredible. The feeling of his senses being stretched to the max, his pulse pushing life faster and faster through his veins, and the air like fire in his blood as he breathed was always an experience. 

The shoved-away terror and stress were not something that he enjoyed. The poison slowly crushing the air from his lungs and the blood still seeping from his severed wrist, also not flashy. At least Hinatsuru, Makio, and Suma were okay. 

The same could not necessarily be said for the three boys that had volunteered to come with him on this mission. Uzui was honestly surprised that the calm boy, Kamado, was even standing and able to fight. He'd certainly come in clutch when Hinatsuru had been in danger, thank all the gods.

Kamado was not what Uzui would call flamboyant. Even considering the boy's enthusiasm and bright attitude, he was downright subdued compared to his two campanions, Hashibira and Agatsuma.

If Uzui was honest, Kamado's gentle disposition and stalwart determination had almost been obnoxious in their blatant goodness, but to all the seven hells, when he got angry, it was FLASHY. 

Uzui could see, from the corner of his eye, that---hell---Kamado had just been stabbed through his chin. He could see the point of Gyutaro's scythe behind his bloody teeth. Amazingly, the little twerp was still managing to continue his attack. 

Kamado's scream burst from deep in his throat, ragged with effort and rage. The tension in his body ran from his toes to the corded tendons and raised veins on his neck. Those veins shivered with the force of Kamado's frantic heartbeat. 

After that, all Uzui could pay attention to was holding that horribly emaciated demon in place, because Kamado's sword was in it's neck, they were so close, so close! Kamado's black blade seemed to be moving so slowly through the creature's neck that it was making Uzui sick just thinking about it. Or maybe that was the poison boiling in his veins. 

Yeah, he was definitely going to be feeling that later. Hell, he was feeling it now. If this fight didn't end soon, none of them were going to make it out of this. 

Uzui didn't even know if Agatsuma and Hashibira were still alive. He thought he could hear thunder crackling and yelling from a way off, but he couldn't afford to concentrate on anything but the demon in front of him, and the young demon slayer at his side.

Uzui himself was feeling the strain, and he was terrified, utterly terrified, that Kamado wouldn't have the strength or willpower to push through.

And---oh hell---Gyutaro was gearing up for another attack no, no, no---and then Kamado's sword was through, with a nasty squelch and an incredibly satisfying shink. 

The demon's head went flying, and their momentum disappeared. Uzui, Kamado, and Gyutaro's decapitated body hit the dirt. Uzui transferred the momentum of his fall into a roll that---ouch, poison, wrist, slashes covering the rest of him, ow---landed him in a crouch. 

Gyutaro's body oozed blood into the dirt, arms and legs limp and splayed awkwardly. That sight calmed Uzui's pounding pulse and screaming senses, just a bit. He gave himself three seconds to breathe, then he needed to make sure that girl demon was getting what she deserved too. 

Uzui's whole body burned. Sweat and blood dripped off his face, tacky on his skin and salty in his mouth. After those three seconds passed, Uzui raised his head again... and promptly felt the urge to vomit. 

The damned demon's body was shuddering and Uzui's practiced eye could see the building power of Gyutaro's blood demon art. This was bad. VERY bad.

Uzui whirled towards where Kamado knelt, and it felt as if his blood had curdled.

The boy looked the picture of pathetic. He stared up into the sky and smoke, head tilted back, eyes wide and glazed. Blood leaked from his eyes like tears, and his pale, sweaty face was smeared with ash and dirt.

Blood gurgled in Kamado's mouth, staining his teeth red and dribbling from his lips. Blood also spilled down his throat from the same gash in the underside of his chin, painting his clothes bright, horrible red. That ugly slash in his left collarbone didn't look good either.

Kamado's sword, tied to his quivering hand, was at his side, drops of red mixing with the dust below. His entire body swayed on his knees, and again, Uzui was amazed that Kamado hadn't collapsed yet.

Worst of all were the hitching, gasping, choking breathes that Kamado was struggling to pull into his lungs. Dammit, the poison. Kamado wouldn't, didn't, have the same resistance that Uzui had built up after years of brutal trainings. The kid shook with the effort of breathing and Uzui knew Kamado would be dead in a few minutes if he didn't get help.

Uzui scrambled forward. It wasn't his most graceful, but at the moment, he didn't care about that. Kamado needed help, immediately. 

"Kamado!!" Uzui wheezed, desperation and poison making his voice ragged. "Get up! It's not over yet!"

Kamado didn't appear to hear him, still gasping, panic clear on his face. His mouth flapped like a fish's. He swayed further and Uzui's gut squeezed. Please, no, not one more pointless death, they were so close to winning, SO close---

"Run! He's not done yet!"

Uzui was on his feet. He was so close to the boy, within two meters. Never had such a short distance felt so incredibly, gut-wrenchingly, impossibly far.

"You gotta run!"

The world exploded in a flashbang of red.

Uzui's vision of Kamado disappeared in a haze of pain, smoke, and ash.

Uzui woke, bleeding in a pile of rubble, surrounded by his beloved wives.

Honestly, at this point, Uzui was surprised that he had woken at all. His limbs burned. He wasn't sure if that was due to the poison that was no longer slowly killing him (it sure wasn't slow anymore), or due simply to that fact that he had just been caught within two meters of a damned blood demon art explosion of blades. Which had been poisoned too, know that he thought of it. Dammit.

Suma was crying, as she tended to do, tears and mucus streaming down her face. Hinatsuru and Makio were calmer, but not by much.

His heart swelled. He loved them, so much.

As he struggled to pull air into his burning lungs, Uzui knew. He wasn't going to make it out of this. He was sure that he could feel his body shutting down.

"Listen closely..." he murmured, eyes still closed. "...for these are my last words..."

And now, the emotional pain was making a showing as his body's physical pain threshold maxed out. Dammit.

At least he could leave something for his wives to remember him by. Something to give them hope. They might not seem it, but they were strong, in their own ways. He just wanted them to be okay. He wouldn't mind a long, flamboyant mourning period, or vows of celibacy from there on out in memory of his passing, but that was inconsequential at this point. For him anyway.

"My life, up until this very moment---"

He was interrupted by Suma's wail of despair, and then Makio's answering shriek. Something about... rocks?? Uzui wasn't sure he heard that correctly. Maybe he was dreaming? Experiencing auditory hallucinations? Either way, there was no way anyone would hear him over the racket Makio and Suma were making. Hinatsuru was screaming too now.

You're kidding, Uzui thought, finally managing to drag his eyes (well, eye) open to take in the sight of Makio holding Suma by the hair and dumping gravel into her open mouth as she cried. Am I gonna die without saying my last words? 

Thoughts flashed through Uzui's mind, far clearer than he thought they would be in this situation. 

He thought about his wives. If he wasn't dying, this situation would probably be funny. It was so like them. Suma, shrieking, Makio, yelling back, and Hinatsuru, trying (and usually failing) to peace make.

Uzui also wondered about the three boys he had brought with him. They were children, really. Well-trained, strong and deadly children, but children nonetheless. He wondered if any of them had made it. What about the demon girl, Nezuko, Kamado's kid sister? Was she alive?

Uzui would be surprised.

And Kamado... he had been so close to Gyutaro's blood demon explosion.... and the way he had been gasping against that poison. Guilt pooled in Uzui's gut, worsening the nausea that came from shock and poison.

What am I supposed to do?

The poison in his veins made his body sluggish, even his tongue. His ability to speak was fading, fast. Even his ability to think clearly was now disappearing.

Well, he could pray that those twerps were still breathing and maybe he could have an inner monolog and pretend that his wives were listening, hands clasped to their breasts and committing his words to memory. Maybe.

But for real. Seriously???

Uzui was pleasantly (if anything could be pleasant at this point) surprised to see a much smaller and less intimidating form of the demon girl, Nezuko, appear at his side. 

Her tiny hands, soft and cool, landed against his arm. A comforting gesture maybe?

Uzui couldn't even say anything, could hardly move anything but his head to look down at the girl, dwarfed, even though he was sitting (slumping) against a pile of rubble. 

She looked up at him, tiny, so much smaller than she'd been before. Her pink eyes blinked at him. She made a little questioning noise. "Hmm?"

Before Uzui could blink, he was suddenly engulfed in glaring pink flames. Well, that was unexpected. He didn't even have the presence of mind to be shocked at this new development. 

There was more panicked shouting from the girls, but the flames died quickly, and as they vanished, so did the oppressing weight of poison in his veins.

"Hold on a second!" Uzui dragged in a breath and sat straighter. "What on earth is happening to me?"

The burning was gone. Did that mean...? "She removed the poison!" That wasn't to say Uzui didn't feel like he had been through a meat grinder and back, but he was pretty sure that he wasn't dying anymore.

And suddenly his wives were clasped onto his chest, all blubbering and clutching each other. 

His heart warmed at the sight and he could only smile softly. Exhaustion was still creeping through him, but he could only focus on this moment. He was feeling unusually humble and grateful as well, to be honest. Not very flashy, but right then Uzui was just happy that he was alive, and that he was surrounded by his three favorite people.

"Sorry, you three, for making you worry."

Uzui closed his eyes for a moment and reveled in taking deep breaths and listening to his girls sob. He smiled and opened his eyes again.

And there, miracle of miracles, was Kamado, standing next to his little sister. Kamado was bloodied, pale as bone, and trembling, but his glassy gaze met Uzui's with a smile. 

How the kid was even conscious, let alone speaking coherently, was baffling. 

Kamado's hand, with two bent and broken fingers, was resting on his sister's head, and he was speaking to Uzui, something about the poison, and taking it easy, and his wounds not being healed.

Uzui tried to pull his focus away from his wives, even as his arms lifted to hold them closer.

"But how can this even be possible? I'm totally lost."

There was a moment of silence as Uzui's eyes flitted over Kamado once more. 

He really did look awful. 

"Hey, wait, Kamado! You need to rest too. Look at you!"

Kamado didn't look. Instead, he seemed to gather himself, eyebrows furrowing.

"I'm gonna go search for the demons' heads," he said softly. His face, though pale, was determined. "I have to find them, or I can't rest easy."

Before Uzui could say anything else---because damn, this kid was determined (but understandable)---Kamado dragged himself onto his tiny sister's back, and they were gone, trotting off into the rubble. 

He needed to go after that kid and make sure he didn't collapse and kill himself after all the trouble they went to to survive. 

As Uzui was struggling to pull together the strength to move, that was about the time that backup finally arrived. 

The backup, of course, came in the form of Iguro, and his creepy snake, and his backhanded praise. 

And Iguro had also brought up the heavy thought of his future. He couldn't very well be an effective demon slayer with just one hand and one eye. And boy, didn't that thought burn nearly as much as the poison. But honestly, feeling his wives huddling close to him, Uzui wasn't as bothered as he thought he would be as he declared his retirement. 

Uzui was still finding it difficult to concentrate, with exhaustion turning his brain to mud. And Iguro---damn him---was still trying to argue.

Something about his replacement. Uzui wasn't too concerned. 

He brushed away Iguro's word and reassured him. "I know just the young swordsman to replace me." Uzui grinned even as worry began to filter its way back into his mind. "Do you remember that new kid that you love to hate?"

Uzui couldn't help but chuckle as Iguro stared for a moment. Amusement curled in his chest as the other hashira's multi-toned eyes widened. "What? You mean he survived? A battle like this? Tanjiro Kamado survived?"

I sure hope so, Uzui thought, amusement burning away. His smile faded. 

He needed to see. Was he really still alive? 

Even as Iguro continued---fuming??---Uzui motioned to his wives. "Help me up. We should... we should find the kids."

And damn if that movement didn't cause all the tiny, burning aches (and the large flaming ones) across his whole body to flare with pain as they stumbled through a clear path in the rubble.

Still, he was grateful for the support, emotional and physical, that his wives were showing him and each other. It made him smile more, even as he frowned at the blatant destruction around him. 

It took them longer than Uzui thought it would to find the boys and Nezuko. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Could the Kamado siblings really have gotten that far if Tanjiro had upped and died? Probably not. Hopefully not. 

Uzui allowed hope to bloom further as his group heard the sounds of crying a little ways off. Thanks to all the gods that he could tell that crying was happy.

As they rounded a pile of rubble, Uzui almost allowed himself to shed a tear or two. Almost. The girls had no such compunctions, smiling and sniffling as they moved closer to the group of children. 

The boys, all three of them---Kamado, Agatsuma, and Hashibira---as well as Nezuko, that cute little demoness, were huddled together, tears streaming down their faces.

Kamado was kneeling in the center, arms around the others, still bleeding sluggishly, still swaying, but blessedly alive.

Hashibira was still wearing his boarhead, but obviously emotional by the way his shoulders trembled. Agatsuma had snot running down his face along with his tears. Nezuko chomped on her muzzle, tiny hands patting her brother's arms. 

Kamado murmured to the others as he smiled and bled. Uzui could hear him echoing the same sentiments as Hinatsuru, offering gratitude that they had all---miraculously---made it out alive. 

Uzui smiled as he and his wives limped closer. Kamado looked up blearily as the gravel and debris crunched under their feet, and smiled.

Uzui grinned, showing off his stunningly flamboyant smile. "Glad to see you boys made it! It was a damn flashy battle!!"

Kamado's smile was tremulous. "We're glad you made it too," he said, voice wobbling. His eyes wrinkled as he smiled wider.

Uzui felt tension ooze from him bones as he allowed things to really settle in. They really had done it. 

A burst of pride swelled in his chest as he pondered the implications of this battle.

As he stared down at the huddle of bloody, dirty, sweaty, and not-currently-flashy children in front of him, Uzui felt hope spark further. These kids were special. Kamado especially. 

And frankly, if Uzui was honest, he thought that maybe, just maybe, if Kamado focused that flashy energy he had displayed earlier, that fierce, burning determination, they could win this thing against Muzan and his damned demons. Just maybe. If he was being honest.