Returning Home

Kamado Akina’s POV

(The doorway is bright - why is this so bright!?)

I trip over something as it goes from bright to dark in a blink and Genya yelps.

“Oof!” I manage to get between Genya and the floor, but my stomach rolls, and I shut my eyes tightly. I take deep, tightly controlled breaths through my nose; something nearby smells like wet stone and damp wood.

It also smells like petrichor, moss, and that tingly ozone smell around lightning.

(By the Gods, I hope we’re inside the Shrine.)

“Hashira-”

“A moment, please,” I beg, my stomach still attempting a revolt against gravity, “One moment more.”

Genya wiggles, and I release him. He rolls off me, and that helps - slightly.

“Rengoku?” Genya calls out quietly, fearfully, “Hashira Rengoku?”

I groan weakly, rolling over and curling up as the world spins violently around me. I hiccup harshly, and the pressure in my chest releases a bit, but the taste of bile rises with it.

“R-Rengoku!?”

Shinazugawa Genya’s POV

Hashira Akina curls up on her side, curling into a fetal position and letting out a weak hiccup. A new and terrible kind of paralyzing fear seizes my limbs.

(What if she’s sick enough to die? What if she dies here, in this weird place, and I can’t even report it? What if I can’t escape this place to get her help? What if she gets worse and there’s no medicine and she never gets better? She’s already treated me like family when I’ve lost control and tried to bite her - when I tried to kill her! I need to help her! I need to save her!)

“RENGOKU, PLEASE, KAMADO NEEDS YOU!” Tears burn in my eyes as I whip my head around, scanning the darkness around us - the air is too dank and humid for us to be above ground, and my voice echoes strangely. “RENGOKU-SAN!”

“Genya,” Hashira Akina murmurs, her voice hoarse, her hand reaches out and grasps my pant leg, I immediately bow over and place my ear next to her face. “It’s just a migraine, it will pass with the storm. Trust me, kid, I will be fine.”

“You’re green and gray and weak and-”

“I have handled this many times over, Genya-kun.” She murmurs, then winces, curling around her stomach. “Ooh, I hate the nausea. I hate it. But it will pass, I promise you. I will be weak, I will look terrible, but I will get better, and I will get us out of here. Please calm down, and stop screaming.”

I whimper, pressing myself closer to her.

“I know you’re afraid, that’s okay, that’s understandable, but the screaming is causing me pain, Genya.” Hashira Akina gently reaches up and pets my head, “Please, Genya, no more screaming.”

“Yes, Hashira.” I agree, tears starting to fall, she lets out a gentle sigh and continues to pet my head.

“I have water, food, and some things for a fire in my pack if you get cold.” She tells me, “Do you know how to use flint and charcoal?”

“Yes.”

“Then I am going to take a nap, Genya. I trust you to keep watch.”

If time passes the same way here, then Hashira Akina sleeps for two hours according to my pocket watch.

When she wakes up, she heaves herself into a sitting position and drags me into a hug so tight, it leaves me breathless and teary.

“I’m sorry for scaring you like that.” Hashira Akina murmurs against my temple, “I’m sorry that I collapsed so weakly in front of you and caused you such fear and concern, but storms and dimensional travel cause me massive migraines.”

“D-D-Dimensional-”

“Yes.” She gently kisses the top of my head, then leans back and holds me out by my shoulders, “We are either in a different dimension or a pocket dimension - similar to Infinity Castle. We are not in Infinity Castle itself, Genya, do not be afraid.”

I take a deep, shuddering breath, but I trust her.

I trust the Hashira of Death.

I trust Kamado Akina.

“I won’t be afraid until you tell me to,” I state, she smiles at me warmly, reassuringly.

“That’s a bit of a stretch, Genya.” She states, “You can still be afraid without my permission, you just don’t need to be afraid of where we are. As far as I am aware, we are safe. There is nothing more dangerous than me within the vicinity.”

I almost collapse with relief, crumpling into her lap with a heaving sigh of relief.

“Careful, Genya, you’ll look happy that I’m the most dangerous person around.” She snickers at me, gently patting me on the back.

Hashira Akina packs her bag a bit more carefully, squeezing some of the blood from the fresh meat into a bowl so I can have something to drink.

It tasted foul, but I didn’t puke, so we both counted it as a win.

Then she figured out that we were actually in a hallway, not a cave system, and she picked which direction to walk in the lead outside by smelling the air.

(No wonder Tanjiro’s nose is so sensitive. He must’ve been trained by Hashira Akina when they were kids!)

We walked for several miles, passing multiple rooms filled with lab equipment, and plants (Hashira Akina seemed vaguely interested in some of them), one of the rooms had tables with sheets over them that reeked of corpses (but were empty), and several rooms merely had chains anchored to the walls and nothing else.

(Those rooms seemed to unnerve Hashira Akina.)

Finally, we found a person walking through the hallway, and he seemed surprised to see us.

“I’ve never seen you here before.” He grabs the katana sheathed at his back, but something tells me he’s posturing. “What are your names?”

“I am Kamado Akina, Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps in Japan.” Hashira Akina deadpans easily, he raises an eyebrow coolly, “We got slightly lost on a mission in the mountains of my village. Do you know of any time-space experiments going on in the area?”

He sighs deeply, releasing the katana.

“My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I’m a Nukenin. I know nothing of any time-space experiments, but I know who to ask about them.” He answers easily, “I take it that this is your student? Or is he Rengoku’s?”

We share a smile, and I lose the tension on my shoulders.

“My name is Shinazugawa Genya, and I’m-”

“He’s my son.” Hashira Akina states, “I haven’t signed the adoption papers yet, but he’s as good as.”

Heat crawls up my shoulders, neck, face, and ears, my tummy flip-flops over, and something in my chest flutters.

(She’s willing to put up with me?)

Sasuke shrugs. “Alright. Follow me.”

(She wants me? She wants me to be family? Forever?)

We follow Sasuke.

Kamado Akina’s POV

Genya seems a little preoccupied after I claim him as my son, but I don’t want this ‘Uchiha Sasuke’ boy thinking Genya can go into battle.

He’s not ready.

(Sanemi did not prepare him. Who even trained Genya? His Cultivator needs a talking-to!)

“Kabuto!” Uchiha barks abruptly, I pause, placing a hand out in front of Genya. A very shaken-looking twenty-something man emerges from one of the rooms ahead of us. “Our…guests have a question.”

“...guests?” ‘Kabuto’ asks quietly, Uchiha glares, muscles tensing-

(-agressive, belligerent, violent-)

“Are there any experiments at work that involve space-time manipulation?” I step forward, coming shoulder-to-shoulder with Uchiha, but keeping Genya behind me. “My son and I seem to have stumbled into a small portal while…working.”

Kabuto looks me up and down, and I smile as nicely as I can as his eyes linger on all of the places where I have hidden knives and vials or sachets of poison.

“...that depends.” Kabuto relents, but does not relax. “Do you know of a…person…named Rengoku Kyojuro?”

“Yes!” Genya cheers before I can stop him, but I clamp a hand over his mouth and tuck him behind my back anyway.

“Hashira Rengoku is a friend to us, yes,” I admit, Genya struggles behind me, but I don’t trust Uchiha’s malevolence or Kabuto’s malignance. “Where can we find him?”

“Konohagakure no Sato.” Uchiha almost spits the title out, and I squeeze Genya a little harder as he tries to peer around my arm. “Get them a map, Kabuto.”

“Hashira Akina-”

“Stay behind me.” I deadpan to Genya, Uchiha looks over at us, boredom in his eyes, and-

(He’s not going to hurt anyone. Not Kabuto, not me, not Genya. This is an act - a ploy! He’s not the boss here, someone else is, but he’s acting angry and unstable to make Kabuto do what he wants! Ha, the conniving sneak!)

I blink at him in surprise, but I don’t let down my guard, looking back at the room Kabuto disappeared into warily. Uchiha leans over to us.

“He may not look it-”

“Neither do my other children,” I state calmly, Uchiha blinks at me, and I shrug. “My parents and most of my siblings died, so two of my kids were originally my siblings, but then our leader decided that my student needed some actual parenting done, and then they all made a friend, and now Genya is here.”

Uchiha lets out a startled wheeze.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” I roll my eyes at the teenager as he doubles over, “On a scale of one to ‘literally flattens buildings in their sleep’ how dangerous is Kabuto?”

Uchiha almost cries laughing, but Genya is horrified.

“Zenitsu did what?!”

Kabuto gives us a map of this strange ‘Fire Country’, but seems spiteful about it, and Uchiha looks at it and smirks smugly.

“Good boy, Kabuto.” I raise an eyebrow at him, but he waves me off, “I’ll show you to the door, and tell you where you are.”

We walk in silence, and I keep a hand on Genya’s shoulder the entire time.

Once we’re in sight of the door, I start to slow, but Sasuke doesn’t. I narrow my eyes, and Genya looks back at me nervously. I keep walking calmly, but I keep one eye peeled.

“Now that we are on the boundary of the door,” Sasuke says calmly, I keep Genya behind me, standing between them and monitoring the shadows that circle us all. “Where Kabuto and others like him can’t listen-”

I snort softly, and one of the ones in the shadows slows, they peer, and I make eye contact with them directly.

“Ignore me, we need information, Uchiha-kun.” I murmur as Sasuke falls silent, “Information is the only way people survive, in any world, in any time-”

“Wow.” He hums, blinking at me quietly as the shadow moves off, disappearing somewhere, and others quickly replace it. “You really are paranoid.”

“Rengoku talked about her?” I can hear the frown in Genya’s voice, “We’re not supposed to-”

“He got de-aged when he came through.” Sasuke states bluntly, I blink and re-focus on him, solely, “He kept using words that Orochimaru, well, no one has ever heard before. Orochimaru sent him to Konohakagure no Sato. It’s one of the Hidden Villages - military states where children are trained to become soldiers or to serve them. They-”

“I know what Shinobi are, young man.” I drawl lowly, recognizing the hatred, the exhaustion, the fear - everything the Uzui family tries so hard to hide - and I shut him down. “I am going in, getting Rengoku, and then we are finding the fastest way home. That’s all.”

Sasuke lets out a relieved sigh.

“What age would he be now, Uchiha-kun?” I question, softer this time, gentler. This boy needs gentleness. He looks like he hasn’t had enough recently - he acts like he hasn’t had enough. “I’ve known Rengoku for a while, but…de-aging…”

I trail off, looking back into the compound nervously, a few more shadows linger in there - their shapes more faded, indistinct, eyes glowing dimmer - but as I look back to Sasuke, he’s understanding.

“He should be about my age, maybe a year older, but no more.”

“Thank you, Uchiha-kun.” I bow shortly to him, keeping Genya close, “If you ever need assistance-”

“Touch any plant, and call for Death.” Sasuke intones, rolling his eyes with a small smile, “Rengoku was quite happy to murmur that before bounding away. I have no idea what he thought was going on that night, or what happened to him, but I hope you find him alive, for what it’s worth.”

“We will,” I state, Sasuke raises an eyebrow, but I bend over and kiss his forehead. A poppy swirls into life on his forehead, then fades into his skin, the gentle tug on my heartstrings letting me know that yes.

This child is mine now, too.