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Rengoku Kyojuro is dead.
Everybody knew the disaster that went down on that fateful night .
A funeral was held and people mourned over the Flame Hashira that died way too soon , all of his efforts were in vain , leaving the Upper Moon to flee .
There was no body however , Tanjiro remembers sharing Rengoku's last moments but as time went by he began to doubt himself even though everyone saw the same thing . The bloodied hashira kneeling on the ground , out of breath with no chance of survival .
Human brains work in mysterious ways , they can create fake memories to make you feel better about yourself. Rengoku died on that night , that's something Tanjiro is extremely sure about but he does not remember what happened afterwards , the sun began peeking over the horizon and the Upper Moon ran away..
Was he holding Rengoku back then? Was it some fucked up blood demon art that made him hallucinate ?
The more he thought about it he couldn't help but tell the others too. Sending corps members to look around the area for any kind of weird signs..a body perhaps , his cape ? The broken sword that the demon stole from him , anything to bring back home for closure .
They find nothing, it's been too long anyways , even if the demon took Rengoku he most likely has already done one of three things to him ; ate him , turned him into a demon or simply let him rot there for his own wicked amusement .
Tanjiro doesn't remember what happened that night clearly. It's all a blur and he despises being unable to recall what happened to his fellow demon slayer whom he only got to know for a short amount of time - a way too short amount of time .
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Kyojuro's entire body was burning. His chest heaved , trying to regulate his jagged breathing . His eyes were only barely opened , a poor amount of light hit his blurred vision that made him just shut them back , tightly , contorting his face in an uncomfortable way .
He notes the fact that he can't move , his limbs feel heavy and weak , they too had a burning sensation spreading all over his muscles .
Somewhere a voice in his mind tells him to get up and run , run until he cannot see where he came from . That was quite impossible because of the state he is currently in , even if he wished to stand up he knew that he'd only end up dropping on the ground again .
He tries opening his eyes again , or well , eye it seems . He cannot see anything out of his left eye but an endless void . Kyojuro's poor vision catches a glance at his own body , he's wrapped in bandages that seem to be soaked in blood , the faint metallic smell filled his nose not much later.
It's like sandpaper , his throat is scratchy and he's unable to say a word without choking . Taking a deep breath , Kyojuro put all the force he could in his arms to raise himself. His breathing hitched and he coughed at the sudden movements , oh it fucking hurts, the burning sensation throughout his body just flared up even worse .
Kyojuro runs a hand over his bandaged body , pulling at the loose , soaked bandages .
He could hear footsteps coming towards him and that made his heart skip a beat, slowly and carefully but definitely coming his way , who was it ? Whoever was taking care of his injured body ?
With every second the steps became much more heavier as they approached the bed ridden hashira . Kyojuro did not know how to expect in the beginning - he was clearly not in the Butterfly Estate , so it was not Shinobu taking care of him instead it was -
A demon , and not just any demon
The Upper Moon Three who he thought he'd lost his life against.
Alarm bells started ringing in his fogged mind , he needed to /run/ , there was no way he was fighting an Upper Moon in this state with his katana nowhere in sight . Kyojuro flinches as soon as the demon appears in his line of vision , he tries rising himself off the ground but it's no use . He lets out a dry cough and falls down on what seemed to be his make-shift futon .
" I nurse you back to health and the first thing you do is want to run away from me ?" The Upper Moon's voice rang through the room ," You're so mean , Kyojuro ~"
The hashira wants to reply but he can't mutter a word , his throat won't let him talk back .
" Don't bother , you're still healing. Humans sure do take a lot of time to heal , that wound would have been so much easier to heal if you were a demon," So he's still on his turning Kyojuro into a demon bullshit.
Akaza smiles , it's not a genuine one , that much Kyojuro can tell , his eyes are dark and unwelcoming, threatening. No chance he can escape this one , he just needs to stay still and listen to the demon . Once he gets his strength back he can try escaping and going back to the other Hashira , his brother and home.. Where is he even now? Kyojuro is left staring into the void asking himself questions without immediate answers .
" So stubborn , Kyojuro , here ," Akaza groans this time , lowering himself to the ground ," You just don't want to listen ," He grabs Kyojuro's shoulders and pulls him down , digging his nails into the already damaged flesh of the hashira .
" Until you can move you just have to stay here! I can't have you running around and passing out , you know there's a lot of demons out there who want the worst for you," He retracts his hands , placing one of them on his face ," and I'm not a big fan of sharing."
He's stuck in here now with Akaza in the middle of god knows where, and he is more than aware about the fact that there's demons out there , he's not even sure where he is right now but he knows one thing for sure , there's demons who'd do anything to consume a hurt person because they simply cannot put up a fight and an easy prey is a better prey.
Akaza stands up straight , fixing his posture, " Now go back to sleep, I'll come back with something good for you ."
Kyojuro feels sick, something good? In demon terms that's probably just raw human meat. He felt very thirsty if anything,he's been dehydrated for .. long enough now , he needs a cup of water to regain his strength little by little .
Why is Akaza being so friendly to him? Has he not understood that there was no way he was going to turn into a demon? He just won't give up . Kyojuro's heart is racing and his whole body is telling him that he's in danger which he clearly knows that he is .
Blurry vision or not , he still decides to actually take a look around the room that he's staying in . It's clearly an older house , it's walls are deteriorated and there's mold all over . Was this house abandoned or did Akaza murder the owners when he brought Kyojuro with him? A shiver is sent down his spine at the thought.. it's possible oh god how fucking possible it is , Akaza could easily be hiding a few bodies here and there to keep for a breakfast later .
The windows are covered in some sort of cloth , they look to be worn out by time , the material is torn in the middle and there's small patches of blood on it .
There's nothing else in the room besides his futon and a broken down dinner table . It was eerie , with the small amount of light that came in through the window and possibly trees .
Demons couldn't survive in the daylight so by keeping themselves in the dense forests where the sun doesn't always reach is always a good idea , Kyojuro noticed it in his missions before, they'd hide behind trees like little kids playing hide and seek when in reality they were hiding from the deathly morning sun .
He's gotten himself in quite a bad position . There is almost no way out , there isn't a way out at all if Kyojuro really thinks about it . If Akaza has been watching him like a hawk all this time there was no chance of survival even in a better state , he needs backup .
Speaking of backup.. has no one tried searching for him?
The train of thoughts is interrupted by Akaza who's walking in with a smile on his face , holding a bowl of .. something, Kyojuro can't quite smell it right . The demon sits down next to him without another word but because of the way the hashira is looking at him with such confusion he has to clear it all up ," It's miso , Kyojuro, no good?" The demon gets just another stare from him , that thing better not be poisoned , that would be a bad way to go after so much fighting.
Akaza takes a spoonful and brings it to Kyojuro's mouth , nudging at him to open his mouth and eat .
" Come on. You have to eat now that you've woken up , I've waited so long to do this ," Akaza mentions with a frustrated tone . For a moment Kyojuro does not want to comply but the demon only seemed to get more frustrated ,so he gave in , he was starving anyways but it was everything including ridiculous , awkward and weird to eat like whatever /this/ is from a demon .
" You know you should get used to me," Akaza says as the hashira finally gives in and tastes the miso ," your friends didn't even bother searching for you , I'm afraid they don't really care !" Kyojuro opens his mouth as a way to protest but Akaza just shoved the spoon in his mouth again , making him choke lightly," You have to come to terms with it ." .
With the fact that his fellow hashira did not even bother searching for him? His father , his brother ? Nobody? There was no way in hell Rengoku would believe the demon's words . They're most likely just way too far away , somewhere hidden in the mountains where only demons live . " You can be in denial as much as you'd like , Kyojuro! I'm happy to have you here though, so you can forget about them!"
Kyojuro wants to tell him to stop using his name so casually like they've been friends since forever , if doesn't sit right with him , it didn't from the beginning when Akaza fully intended to murder him and now he's playing /nurse/ or whatever he's trying to do!
He's unable to say even a single word back , there's no other way out of this when he's in this weakened state . He just needs to let himself regain his strength, even if it means following the things Akaza says .
" Eat! How are we supposed to fight if you're like this ?" So the demon's desires stayed the same , he wants to fight with Rengoku until the end of his precious time- until Rengoku dies.
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On a rainy night Kyojuro is finally able to stand up . His legs shake slightly as they try to find their footing, he tries to steady his breathing but it's hard when all he manages to do is catch his breath every once in awhile, he feels like he's one step away from falling into hell, he supports his weight on the walls , trying to refrain from making any sudden movements that might lead to a bad fall .
The yukata he's wearing makes it easier for him to walk because of its looseness, though it also makes him feel cold and vulnerable. The way the rain is pouring heavily onto the ground sends shivers down his spine , usually he'd find such sounds calming but not in this scenario , he wishes there was a way to conceal it .
Kyojuro thinks about it for a little , there's most likely no nichirin weapons around , he remembers the fact that his katana snapped in two and with a mere knife no demon is going down . '/No/, it's fine' , he thinks to himself, as long as he doesn't act suspicious Akaza has no reason to attack him suddenly..
The door separating him and the outside?another room? suddenly flies open and with a loud thud Akaza enters , holding once again a bowl of some sort of food , it smells nice .
So far Akaza has been feeding him quite nice food, it wasn't posioned for one and it was edible , the fact that he had to be fed by the demon humiliated him . Akaza always brought him food , water more rarely though, there was a time where he'd bring a decently sized bowl of water and just left it there in the room without a single word . Kyojuro would catch a glimpse of himself in the water whenever he tried reaching for it , a reminder of what he's become . His face always looked tired , he had eyebags even though he slept throughout most of the day .
" You got up ,Kyojuro!" Akaza exclaims fastily with such excitement in his tone, " finally you can do stuff and not just lay down there."
His voice came back a few weeks ago but he didn't dare speak , he only let the demon ramble on his stupidities , he didn't even really bother listening,only giving him a nod or an affirming hum whenever he was being asked a question . A bad play from his part really, who knows what he's been asking.
" I'm glad I came just in time then , here , I know you must be getting tired of the soups and easy foods so I got you some meat ," Akaza points to the bowl , " you better not waste if because it was hard to get it !" He continues , coming even closer to Kyojuro, placing his free hand around the man's shoulder , shaking him .
" Don't.. do that , I'll fall.." Kyojuro mumbles under his breath , he's only gotten up , don't make him sit down again for some food.
" Haha ! Don't worry about that !" Akaza laughs and releases the hashira, instead he holds his arm and drags him back to his futon . Kyojuro almost stumbles at the demon's fast movements . Once he gets sat down his hands clench into fists out of frustration .
The Upper Moon sits down next to him , handing him the bowl of food . Kyojuro eyes the meal , it doesn't look weird and so far he hasn't been poisioned .. He can feel Akaza's eyes staring at him intensively .
" I'd eat with you , but you know I don't eat human food ," Akaza tells Kyojuro, like that's gonna make him want to eat it more .
Kyojuro takes in a deep breath and grabs a part of the cut meat with the chopsticks , slowly raising it to his mouth and taking a small bite , tasting the waters- it's not horrible , it tastes like badly done beef , he decides against chewing it , it's a small piece anyways ,the texture is not something Kyojuro is a fan of .
" Edible enough, right?" Akaza questions and Kyojuro nods , taking another bite .
" It's only a slab this time but maybe next time I'll get some more ." Kyojuro wants to tell him to not but he's too busy eating, if Akaza is nice enough to him he's gonna regain his energy in no time like this - he has to play coy about it .
And he does , Akaza continues giving him meat dishes. Though everytime Kyojuro eats there's a worry settled deep in his mind that this is not animal meat .. it always crosses his mind , on certain days he just couldn't continue eating if those thoughts danced around his mind for too long .
Akaza is still a demon . An Upper Moon at that , Upper Moon Three , he does not care for Kyojuro, he only cares about making him a demon if he gets the chance , he does not have any good intentions and if Kyojuro did something against his wishes he could easily be killed .
The days go by and Kyojuro feels like he's actually alive again , he can walk around with no problem and his wounds have fully healed , though Akaza won't let him out of the house unless he wanted to be knocked out again..Akaza is acting like Kyojuro is some pet that he is keeping for his own enjoyment .
If he could , Kyojuro would just take the risk and run away but he'd easily get caught , unaware of his surroundings and what time it even is- how much time has he spent asleep? Weeks ? Months ? And the demon watched over him like a prized treasure, it made him sick to his stomach .
On another rainy day Akaza comes by again to drop off some food to Kyojuro. He grabs the bowl without a word , he made a habit out of it , get the bowl and eat without saying anything, Akaza would try to make Kyojuro talk at times , questioning him on certain topics but Kyojuro wouldn't respond , he won't even make eye contact , he just ignores the demon but not once has Akaza gotten angry over it. He just rambles on whatever he wants - telling Kyojuro about the foolish people he'd murdered, demon slayers and common folk alike .
This time is no different though Kyojuro wants to test out his thoughts , let Akaza speak and ask him if he wants to eat some of his portion out of the blue , it's probably not gonna do anything but he's really curious if he's actually been eating even a tad bit of human meat- again , even thinking about it made Kyojuro's stomach churn.
" Have you caught on the taste? Is it good?" Akaza raises an eyebrow and Kyojuro is caught off guard by the question .
" What do you mean? Is it not the same beef?"
Akaza stares at him then with widened eyes and a dumbfounded smile ," Ah, I got it wrong then-" he laughs .
A deep silence settles in the room before Akaza just extends his hand towards Kyojuro's bowl ," You really haven't figured it out? " Kyojuro blinks and takes a moment to process the information - good thing he hasn't eaten that much of this yet, he lets the bowl fall on the ground and brings his hand to his mouth - Akaza seems to quickly get what he's trying to do and pushes him off the futon " Kyojuro!" He shouts ,but Kyojuro is too busy trying to activate his gag reflex- he needs to get that stuff out off his system now or else he's gonna feel guilty for the rest of his life , why didn't he just get killed then? This is even fucking worse . The demon seems to have gotten angry , towering over Kyojuro he wrapped one of his hands around Kyojuro's wrists and the other around his neck , " Stop acting like a- a fucking brat or something, Kyojuro, you wanted to eat something, /right/?" He comments, the grip around his neck is tight, leaving Kyojuro to start trying to squirm out of his hold , gasping . " People have /always/ eaten other people,the weak die , Kyojuro," He continues , hissing under his breath .
Kyojuro shakes his head - they aren't having a food shortage or something , they don't have to kill eachother for food , only demons do that nowadays . Akaza continues to talk smack about this and that , saying that Kyojuro is ungrateful and that he should be getting used to this but Kyojuro can't muster up a single word , his vision begins to fog and he's one step away from passing out .
" You're really letting yourself get choked to death , Kyojuro? You were so so good there on the battlefield yet your humanity won't let you get any further ," Akaza says clearly annoyed by the fact that Kyojuro is losing his consciousness , loosening the grip on his neck but not by much .
There's a sharp pain in his abdomen as Akaza kicks him , he fully let's go of Kyojuro now , letting his head hit the wooden floor . Kyojuro gasps for air as soon as Akaza let's go of him, breathing in sharply and holding onto his side, his face burns and he's never felt this kind of weakness . Fuck , he's done for , he should've been left for dead there on the battlefield, dying a honourable death and not like this , god knows where without putting up a fight .
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He's back at square one , laying on his futon with his barely made up trust with Akaza broken . Or that's what he thinks at least because of the demon's mannerisms .
Akaza walks in with a pair of clothes draping over his shoulder . " Missed fighting?" He asks the demon slayer but he does not dare reply . " Ah come on Kyojuro, you're fine! You haven't forgiven me yet? " The way Akaza says his name always rubbed him the wrong way , he got way too familiar way too quickly for his own comfort . " Don't worry though, I didn't get to tell you but that was the first time it was human meat . You know I can't let it go to waste !"
" So instead of eating it yourself , you gave it to me.."
" Because I thought about you , you know! If you ever become a demon you'll have to eat humans too ," Akaza tells him like that wasn't already a worldwide known fact .
" Anyways! Look what I got for you!" Akaza shows Kyojuro his demon slayer uniform though the hole in his uniform was sown up . Did .. Akaza do this? " A good old lady helped me out with this ," Akaza says . Oh , that was unexpected, granny helping out a demon?
" You should get dressed up so we can fight !" Akaza exclaims happily, handing him the clothes , they seem to be freshly washed too . The blood stains have disappeared with it's other imperfections . Kyojuro has missed his uniform , wearing the yukata all the time made him feel way too vulnerable.
Kyojuro begins to undress but Akaza does not move from his place , the demon slayer gives him a confused look .
" Can't you leave ? Do you get off to people undressing or something?"
" Ah! That's mean , Kyojuro! I'll leave then if you want me to , I'll be waiting for you outside."
He leaves and Kyojuro is glad that he didn't put up much more of a fight , he didn't want to be watched by the demon while getting undressed , that made him feel even worse about himself.
Kyojuro changes , his uniform is just a bit loose on him because he's lost some weight ,but besides that it's tidy and he feels good wearing it again . Too bad his katana got absolutely destroyed ..huh , then what will he be fighting with ? He knows that Akaza fights with his fists easily but Kyojuro doesn't , so he'll be already at a disadvantage. It'll just be a mock battle , probably, Akaza won't try killing him this time but Kyojuro doubts he won't try to inflict some good wounds on the demon slayer .
Standing on the engawa looking into the endless forest Kyojuro thinks about the fact that this place is just a maze that's gonna be a pain to escape . He stands there , taking in a few good breaths before Akaza appears in front of him .
" Aha ! Nice , shall we get started now?" He asks Kyojuro, gaining his battle stance not letting Kyojuro respond to the question . He runs towards the demon slayer , attention to throw a punch at him but Kyojuro dodges , already seeing death before his eyes .
" How am I supposed to fight you without my nichirin blade ? That's just a lose from me without even trying!" Kyojuro yells , hand to hand combat is not something he specialises in . At all. Sure , he can throw a few punches at people and maybe knock them out but demons ? No chance and he won't even try !
" Eh.. I guess you're right ," Akaza stops and runs into the house , not saying anything. Kyojuro is even more confused by now , so this isn't just a friendly battle- not that he expected one , this guy is still a demon , having taken care of him or not , he's the biggest threat to Kyojuro right now .
Akaza comes back quickly with a blade , he hands it to Kyojuro with a smile .
" That kid threw it at me when I took you , he was too out of it by then .. thinking I'm running away from him and not the sun!" That kid? /That/ kid ? The one who had been travelling with his demon sister ? Kyojuro freezes , barely taking a glance at the sword . Then he and his friends must be fine if Akaza was running away then , right?
" I didn't kill them , I was too busy carrying you and making sure that I didn't get hit by the sunlight ." That's a bit reassuring though, Kyojuro can take a good guess and say that if the sun hadn't come when it did then those kids would be not here anymore . If he couldn't hold the Upper Moon off then there was no chance a band of kids could.. that would be pretty badass of them though.
" It's a nichirin blade right? Now you can cut me with no problem ," Akaza says , taking his stance once again , looking quite calm . Of course he'd be calm , if Kyojuro couldn't kill him then when he was healthy and full of life there was little no chance he could do that again .
" If it only was that easy.." Kyojuro sighs , looking at the black blade . He could do with it for now , it should turn red without any problems .
Kyojuro hops off the engawa and takes his stance too , calming down his breathing. Akaza makes the first move again ,lunging forward, his fist aiming straight for Kyojuro's face , Kyojuro dodges it swiftly and swings his leg around kicking the demon in the shin, taking advantage of the demon's off balance he swings his sword and hits his forearm , it does not go through but it does leave a cut that of course gets healed immediately.
Akaza jumps back and with a satisfied look on his face , he goes for another attack , this time Kyojuro cannot dodge it, being caught completely off guard by Akaza appearing behind him , the demon strikes him right in the back of his head with his hand, knocking Kyojuro down " Ow ow," he hisses through his teeth , holding tightly on the hilt of the sword.
For a moment Akaza swears he can hear the way Kyojuro is breathing, he is a bit too focused on the faint sound to notice Kyojuro quickly raising , using the second form to create an arch of fire , making Akaza take a few steps back , no wounds inflicted this time , Kyojuro moved too slowly.
" As expected , I'm still in a bad shape ," Kyojuro laughs , locking his gaze with Akaza's .
" Selling yourself short , Kyojuro? Come on show me what you've got !" Akaza shouts , coming towards the demon slayer , Kyojuro takes a few steps back himself, avoiding the kicks and punches . He's getting further and further away from Akaza who is getting annoyed by his constant dodging.
He finally stops , closes his eyes and calms himself-/he can do this/, not too bad , he's fine , he's not gonna die they're not actually fighting ; then Kyojuro dashes towards Akaza ,using his First Form , this time it is not aimed at the neck however- not like he could cut it like this , but he does manage to take Akaza by surpirse and cut off one of his arms from the elbow and leave a deep slash on his abdomen .
The first techniques never quite made him extremely tired but he can feel himself get a bit sloppy with his footwork after not even an hour of fighting.
" Clean cut!" Akaza exclaims , but even if it was the cleanest cut it didn't matter , he regenerated before Kyojuro could even look at the damage he's done .
Kyojuro takes in a deep breath , steading himself . Akaza takes his moment of unawareness to his advantage and sends a kick in Kyojuro's ribs before grabbing the demon slayer's arm , making sure that he can't swing his blade at him . With his free hand he grabs Kyojuro's neck and forcefully pushes him against a tree , panting heavily by this point Kyojuro does not say anything, he waits and sees what the demon will do .
Nothing, he does absolutely nothing, instead he's also waiting for Kyojuro to make the first move . Not wanting to be choked anymore , he tries kicking at the demon's abdomen and legs - a kick in the nether region would be kinda unfair , he cannot swing his blade at all , Akaza is holding him tightly, it might actually bruise .
Akaza takes note of the useless struggle of the demon slayer and let's him drop on the ground . Kyojuro is catching his breath ,still holding tightly onto the sword .
" Do you want a break?" Akaza asks , turning around but when he looks back Kyojuro is not there . He looks around him for a second before looking up and - there he is , performing his Third Form , without a complaint of anything hurting .
Kyojuro misses his head by a few centimetres, instead he cuts off a good part off the shoulder and arm . Akaza is now the one being held down by Kyojuro, the nichirin blade is still nicely settled in the upper part of his abdomen . The sword feels like it's burning hot , it's only his imagination , he knows that , but the thrill of fighting with /the/ Fire Hashira really made him excited .
Kyojuro not so much , he did not enjoy the battle with the Upper Moon , he's already out of breath and there's no way he's going to be his old self anytime soon .
" That one blow really fucked up your organs so..even if your friends come back to get you , you won't be able to be a hashira again ," Akaza says out of the blue , like he knew what Kyojuro was thinking.
" I-"
" Your lungs suffered the most ,I'm surprised how you actually healed up , even with the blood demon art !"
" And who the hell inflicted the wounds on me!? And I- what? You used blood demon art on my wounds ?" Kyojuro was surprised- he shouldn't be really , there was no other way he could've survived with a hole in his goddamn body!
The angrier Kyojuro seemed to get
the hotter the blade settled in him felt , quite enticing. Kyojuro finally pulled out the blade , the brilliant orange-red was covered in pure red blood , shining slightly as it prickled down back on the demon . The wound was once again healed within moments .
" Satisfied with your results ?" Akaza asked unbothered by the position they're in .
" I'm not , i barely moved around yet I am out of breath ," Kyojuro complained , he's never gonna go back to his old life then , huh? At this point he wasn't surprised about the information , he couldn't help but feel sick about it though , the corps just keeps on losing .
They're both left breathless , sitting in a deafening silence . Nothing but the wind and their breathing could be heard.
" Well we have some wild companions," Akaza points to somewhere in the forest, so suddenly that Kyojuro is caught off guard ,and there are indeed some eyes watching their fight unfold rather curiously.
" So what?" Kyojuro asks and gets up , he does not wait for Akaza to respond instead he just makes his way to where the glowing circles, sighing without delight, of course there had to be demons lookin over them .
There's two demons huddled around a dead crow and by their looks Kyojuro can guess what Akaza meant by wild . Unkept hair and torn clothing, scars from possiblity their human life and dark sunken eyes .He turns around to look at the Upper Moon but he's nowhere to be seen . Has he gone inside ? Maybe he doesn't want the demons to see him with a human , that would destroy his reputation.
They're starving. You can easily tell by their disfigured and malnourished bodies . Kyojuro stares at them , they were once just innocent people but now they do not deserve that title anymore , maybe they haven't killed people in years but they are still dangerous . They're saying something, in a low muttered voice , they're saying something to eachother talking to Rengoku himself perhaps but he simply cannot hear .
Kyojuro watches as the demons try- keyword , try , to get closer to him but fail , the sword glints brightly and Kyojuro puts them out of their misery without a single word, their heads drop to the ground next to the murdered crow and they disappear before long . Kyojuro looks at the dead crow and thinks about his Kasugai crow , that bird must've told everyone he was dead- but maybe it's dead too , Kyojuro has no idea what happened to it .
Wild looks and horrible ways to die maybe , Kyojuro sighs , maybe this wasn't the type of wild demon Akaza was talking about but that was something to find out for another time. Kyojuro grabbed the crow , it was dead for a few hours now, maybe even longer , but demons don't eat crows , so why was it dead ? It still deservers a proper burial .
" That's a Kasugai crow ," Akaza says from somewhere in the trees and Kyojuro shivers, he's lying , he's lying .
" I was surprised when it got here so I killed it myself, I have no idea what it was on about but it's not going back with any information."
Kyojuro's hands wrap around the crow protectively, it's dead now , it had found what it was asked to .. fuck , this was horrible , there really wasn't a way to tell the other demon slayers that he's fine- as fine as he can get staying with a demon .
" You can't just leave it there ?" Akaza asks , dropping down next to him , " we aren't done fighting here , Kyojuro, come on , stop wasting time ," he continues with a flat tone , not even bothered by the way Kyojuro is visibly shaken up .
__
A few weeks go by and Akaza does not do anything weird to Kyojuro. He's still as friendly as ever, unless Kyojuro does something that's against his wishes- he hasn't done anything like that lately , he doesn't need to get his neck bruised all over again . Those few times were a real pain in the ass.
Every day is the same , wake up , eat , fight and then go back to sleep and Kyojuro has been getting tired of it . There have been a few demons coming around the house , they were of course beheaded as soon as Kyojuro got his hands on the blade . The forest really is infested with them and especially now that they've probably smelled a human they're just coming around more . Kyojuro had seen Akaza kill a few by himself too- not that it's surprising, those demons don't stand a chance against the Upper Moon even if they tried .
One time a demon bought a dead body here, Kyojuro couldn't understand why it did that .. he couldn't possibly think of a reason it would just bring a body there instead of just eating it . Akaza laughed when Kyojuro told him , telling him that it was probably trying to get on his good side - Kyojuro killed the demon , not daring to look at the corpse out of guilt .
The more time he spent there the more his mentality worsened . Akaza's words of pure obsession made his skin crawl , the way he'd always tell him that the demon slayers were not searching for him at all even after he saw that dead Kasugai crow always made him doubt himself, " If they really wanted to they would've sent one of the hashira here to get you , no?" Akaza asked him on a silent night , he barely closed an eye then , hating himself for not trusting in his friends . Kyojuro was sure that everybody thought he was dead so something in his mind always told him that he's nothing more but a fleeting memory in their minds .
Kyojuro is laying on his futon , trying to fall asleep after another session of being thrown around like a ragdoll by the demon, said demon now just entered the room is pacing around the room talking to Kyojuro for whatever reason - he must know that he's actually awake , Kyojuro found it hard to fall asleep after long days out of fear mostly , feeling so much adrenaline everyday was not very beneficial for his health .
" I heard that the village at the foot of the mountain was attacked and they sent some demon slayers ," Akaza says suddenly, he knew how to make Kyojuro talk .
" Is that so?" Kyojuro asks with a low tone , faking a yawn ." Yes , I think they're still going at it now , I wonder how it's going so far." So the fight /just/ started ?
" Do you miss it? Do you want to take revenge , Kyojuro? " Akaza questions with a grim look on his face .
" How many demons are there ?"
" Do you really think I counted ?"
" ... "
" Fine , like five of them I think , but do you wanna go fight or not ?" Akaza asks again, well he clearly wants to see Kyojuro fight , again .
" No , you're making fun of me aren't you? You already killed those people."
Akaza looks at Kyojuro with a shocked face , he shakes his head quickly, denying Kyojuro's false sayings.
" No way , I wouldn't waste an opportunity to see you fight !" Akaza exclaims , he stopped pacing around now ," so is it a yes or a no?"
" Fine , I'll go, but not for your enjoyment."
" Haha no problem , Kyojuro! Oh and by the way , I should hand this back to you now if you're going back on the job," Akaza let Kyojuro's cape fall down , unlike his uniform it wasn't repaired . It was still torn in some places and bloodied- a sign of struggle and failure from the Flame Hashira .
Kyojuro regrets his decision no longer after , he gets dressed no problem and now he's thrown over Akaza's shoulder , being carried like a goddamn sack of potatoes because the village is too far away to run normally, it's a little humiliating - has he been carried like this back then too? But the faster he got there then the better , even if it meant being carried by Akaza .. for the people's sake .
They reach the village in no time , it's weirdly quiet . Kyojuro has been to enough villages and towns plagued by demons and they were not silent at all - unless it's residents were already dead , but Akaza mentioned that demon slayers were sent here .
Akaza let's Kyojuro down , gives him a hard pat on the back and smiles at him , his smile makes Kyojuro's blood boil and before he knows it he's swinging his sword at Akaza who jumps out of the way ," What have you done?" He questions ,taking another glance at the village , he can make out a few good scratches on the ground , it must be a pretty big demon that left those marks. There's blood /everywhere/ , it reeks of demons and freshly spilled blood , it makes Kyojuro feel sick to his stomach , if this really is another one of Akaza's sick jokes-
" Woah Kyojuro! You are too quick at making assumptions !"
" I'm too quick at making assumptions ?! You've been keeping me locked in a goddamn house for the past few /months/ and you expect me to trust you?" Kyojuro snaps and points to the village with his blade but Akaza does not care to listen to him anymore, simply backing up and jumping on one of the houses , his face unchanging.
Kyojuro takes a deep breath and walks in the village , he is way too irritated to think rationally. Everything smells metallic and the air is cold and dry,the night is young and it makes him feel suffocated . He needs to calm himself down before he does anything stupid . Look for survivors first then kill the demons- he has to make sure that at least a few people make it out alive .. that's the reason he's a pillar , to help others .
Losing his tempter right now will only make things worse .
Scanning for any form of life be it human or demon Kyojuro is forced to look at the grotesque view the demons left on the poor village . There's bodies at every corner and guts , even on top of the roofs- from what Kyojuro noticed the mutilated bodies mostly belonged to older people, that might mean the young people fled while the older people were left to die, or the village has simply oldened over the years , most of their residents leaving for the bigger more "safer" cities . Having a village be erased from the maps because of demon attacks wasn't that much of a new thing but it was horrible to think about .
No demon slayers however , Akaza lied to him for sure , he only wanted to make Kyojuro come out and fight for his own pleasure .
Once he arrives at the somewhere in the centre of the village he spots three moving bodies , they were running and the closer they got to Kyojuro he could see the fourth one , a demon . Not too large but it was clearly not weak and without even wasting a second Kyojuro calms his breathing and gets in position , the demon takes note of him and starts charging towards the demon slayer , it's eyes widened , like it just saw a ten course meal .
Kyojuro dashes towards the demon and with a singular burning horizontal slash the demon's head goes tumbling on the ground . Kyojuro sheats his blade and sighs , if it's not one of the twelve kizuki then these demons really aren't anything of importance to the hashira- but to the common folk? Death knocking at their door .
With one of the threats neutralised , Kyojuro makes his way towards the people who were running , now sitting on the ground . Two kids and possibly their mother , Kyojuro could guess . The kids are crying and the mother seems to be in shock , there's a gaping wound near her abdomen and a good amount of bruises and cuts on the kids, one of them is missing an arm . / What can he do as one man ?/ He's not specialised in this sort of stuff . A thing is clear as day however , she's not going to survive throughout the night , not with that much blood already lost .
" Thank you.." Kyojuro hears one of the boys speak with a raspy tone.
" Of course!" He tries saying with enthusiasm but there's nothing to be enthusiastic about- there's still demons lurking around and probably a lot more people who have yet to be killed .
" Can you go near the outskirts of the village ? Can your mom walk? It's not safe here ," Kyojuro tries explaining, the sun isn't coming up anytime soon.. if he can at least save these two kids..
" I don't think so," The other boy says ,much clearer though , he doesn't seem to be as shaken up as the other one ,perhaps this isn't his first time experiencing this?
" I'm gonna need you two to /run/ away from here- go anywhere,just far away!" Kyojuro says quickly, he hears rustling and the quicker he gets these kids out of here the better ," Your mother will come with you two later ," he continues , starting to look around to see where the noise came from .
He takes his cape off and hands in to the kids ," Keep this..wrap it around your arm so it'll stop the bleeding.. Ok now , go!" Kyojuro shoos them away , finally catching the gaze of the demon who was watching them . Standing on the roof of one of the houses , it was holding a corpse like a toy- but once Kyojuro noticed it , it jumped . A surpirse attack perhaps ? Or it's simply trying to avoid him and get the dying woman .
" Not on my watch," he mumbled to himself , turning around to see if it changed position on another one of the roofs. It has not , so you can imagine the panic that grew in Kyojuro once he looked upwards and noticed the hellspawn attempt to jump on him from an unreasonable height , it's hands reach Kyojuro's face and a single scratch is left on his cheek before he does his second form without even thinking, the second demon is gone, gone with the unforgiving arching fire .
Kyojuro turns his head just in time to see the woman get pulled from behind him, and he sees another one of the fucking demons behind her - holding her and pulling her away from the area, not sparing Kyojuro a single glance , it's already gone before Kyojuro could make another move , he was frozen in place by how quietly the demon approached him. That woman might be dead but she deserved a better way to go.
No use in running after it right now , search for other survivors , that's all that Kyojuro is telling himself .
His heart is racing but there's no time for breaks . He begins running around checking for anyone who might still be alive , a complete purge happened here , there was no use averting your eyes if guts were everywhere .
Cutting a corner, two demons jump at him , one coming from higher up and one from the ground , he holds the hilt of the sword tightly and with a fluid circular motion he defends from the attack , the demons had tried ambushing him and failed , instead they got themselves killed in the process, their heads fell at the same time , Kyojuro noticed their surprised faces, they seemed to be in disbelief that they just got killed like that . Two more dead to the pile ,this wasn't going too horribly. If only there were more people alive .
Behind the dead disappearing bodies of the demons there's a man in hakama and a kimono , holding a katana close to his chest . He doesn't seem to have any kind of damage done to him , Kyojuro thanks the gods and lends a hand for the man to grab - but he does not , he just stares at Kyojuro like he's seen a ghost . He's saying something under his breath , Kyojuro can't make out his words . He's most likely still in shock but staying here will only kill him,/ what can he help with?/
" It's not safe anywhere near the forest , don't go near it , go to the outskirts of the village ," Kyojuro instructs him with a surprisingly quiet voice, it's no help however , the man does not respond, he's clutching on the katana like his life depends on it. Kyojuro clears his throat ," I'll kill the demons, they won't terrorise the village anymore. Understand?" and the man finally nods .
The man gets up and runs , still clutching the katana . Kyojuro is once again alone , the wind is starting to pick up and the smell of blood is becoming more abundant.. he himself is clutching onto false hope that there's more people alive , that he was not too late.
A familiar sickening feeling is growing in his gut as he continues to run around the village , everyone's /dead/ ,there's no more saving that Kyojuro can do besides kill the demons who are feasting on the bodies. Might the victims at least rest peacefully, because nobody else is getting out alive .
That one demon that stole the woman right from Kyojuro - where might it be?
" Keep yourself steady , " Kyojuro tells himself out loud , he's fine , in no way shape or form is he more worried about himself than he is about those kids and man that proceeded to run away .
Slurred words come from somewhere near him , they're loud and unclear, almost unsettling. Without taking another second , Kyojuro runs towards where the noise is coming from , only go be met with a gruesome sight ; a big irregular demon feasting on a human- one that is still alive , chunks of flesh are bitten out of the woman's legs and arms , after so much blood loss it's a surprise that she's still trying to form out words . / There's no saving these people anymore/, and that's the harsh truth .
Too focused on the meal in front of it , the demon only makes eye contact with Kyojuro, it does not move, it only stares at Kyojuro with an undying hunger in it's eyes .
Must be one hell of a hungry demon if it isn't interested in wasting anymore energy. It does not matter to Kyojuro because within the next moments it's head flops on the bloodied ground, a chunk of flesh flying out of it's mouth . He's seen this this kind of view over and over but it's still sickening, the feeling of helplessness is undoubtedly high at this moment.
There's no use spending anymore time in this village . Akaza only took him here to lower his stability and oh fuck it's working, maybe not as much as Akaza wanted maybe but fuck does it feel horrible. Kyojuro apologises to the woman , she's already a goner .
But those two kids- he should try to find them , check and see if they're fine .
Kyojuro calmed his mind , making his way towards the outskirts of the village . He couldn't afford to waste anymore time . The sound of his footsteps are the only thing he can hear now . In the deafening silence of the dead night , Kyojuro finds himself spiraling , the more he ran the more he couldn't hear anything around him , he could feel his blood pumping inside of him , he feels the need to escape this reality that the demon created for him .
Having reached the outskirts, he turns his head to look behind at what is now a mere ghost town . The demons had a feast tonight and Kyojuro was to blame.
Kyojuro looks around for those kids , there's another set of trees not so far from the village- there's a man made path going through them , must be the way towards another village or town.. Kyojuro doesn't waste another moment to think about it and runs there , looking for any kind of movement, be it a demon or the children.
A piece of white fabric catches his eye , is that- that is in fact his cape , fuck . Kyojuro crouches and grabs it , he notices the gracious amount of new blood soaked in the white of the fabric .
" Kyojuro!" A familiar voice rang from behind him.
" Akaza!" Kyojuro turns around immediately to catch the demon's eye , he's smiling and half crouched to grab at Kyojuro's shoulder ,he smacks his hand away proceedings to fall on the ground at the sudden movement he's just made. Kyojuro didn't even realise how tired he was at this point , breathing heavily and clutching at his cape like a little kid hanging on for dear life after a nightmare.
" Kyojuro! What are you doing here ? " Akaza continues , unbothered by Kyojuro's crazed expression.
The words are stuck in Kyojuro's throat , he feels an abnormal amount of panic grow within him .
" Ah..Akaza.. have you seen two kids.." He asks in a quiet voice , his words slurred .
" Were you coming for them ? Well I saw them with your cape and you know , after I gave it to you as a nice gift ,I felt like you gave it away to easily, which is not very nice," Akaza began , covering his mouth and looking at Kyojuro's widened eyes ," don't worry I didn't kill them, one of them at least. The other one was already dying , it didn't matter."
" You're kidding right?"
" Why would I be ?"
" Everybody's dead ," Kyojuro says breathless ," were you watching me fight back then?"
Akaza does not respond but crouches next to Kyojuro, placing a hand on his head ," You've always been good at fighting, Kyojuro, but you can't always save everyone and you don't want to understand that ," his hand clenches around his hair ," whatever else can I do to destroy your will? These people don't even deserve you!"
Kyojuro grinds his teeth as Akaza tugs slightly at his hair ," Have you given up yet? You must be tired." Of course he's tired, he watched a bunch of people die in front of his own eyes , Kyojuro does not understand why he feels like this however , it is not the first time something like this happens - it is the first time a demon lured him in though .
" Kyojuro!" Akaza pulls at his hair again to attract his attention ," don't fall asleep here! I thought we'd fight , this isn't entertaining at all."
__
When Kyojuro opened his eyes he saw the same old neglected roof , he's not outside anymore instead he's laying on his futon , covered by a lightweight blanket. Akaza must've b rought him here , he doesn't remember what he's done clearly , it's almost like he's back to square one, waking up in this godforsaken room with little to no recollection of what happened .
His chest aches as he sighs in defeat.
" Kyojuro~!" He hears the ever so enthusiastic voice of the demon .
Akaza walks in , he's not holding anything instead he just goes next to his futon and sits down.
" You really did it to yourself yesterday! I think I might've said too much because you stabbed me and wouldn't speak to me," Akaza says , Kyojuro looks at him but there's no signs to show that happened , the demon is as healthy as ever.
" So I had to knock you out !" He continues , saying it so casually. Kyojuro doesn't bother replying, instead he lets Akaza's words jog his memory ; right , the village.
" What did you do to them in the end?"
" I killed them ," a flat out response , no remorse of his actions , " and another man , I suppose you helped them out , very generous of you , Kyojuro!" He chuckles softly, but it doesn't reach his eyes- they remain dead cold .
" What should I tell you ? Should I say thank you?"
" Nothing, just listen to me , you'll understand how unfair the human world is, Kyojuro, I only want your good."