♡ Kryptonite ● Akaza x Reader ●

Chapter 2: "Overthinking"

*Was he waiting for me to wake up? *

Akaza, his name resounded in my head some time. He sure is not an ordinary demon.

I looked up in the sky to find out how long I was out. The sight told me that the sun would rise any moment as the heaven got lighter. The darkness of the night was slowly pushed away by the beginning of the day, that means that I was unconscious for about 3 hours.

I decided to stay still and spare my body for the moment. I felt immense pain in my ribcage, my lungs and my throat. It reminded me of the fight this night and of my defeat. That's right I was defeated by this demon who only passed some time with me in search for entertainment. This only showed me my weakness once again.

Even though my thoughts were depressing I couldn't withstand to look at the sunrise in awe. The sun created beautiful colors in the sky. A Dark blue which transitioned into a light baby blue and the bright sunrays made the clouds seem yellow, orange and red at the same time. It looked like a perfect painting from nature. Every minute something moved and made the whole scenery a little different from before. The changes enabled the sun to rise higher and higher until the sky was a completely bright blue with some white dots.

The momentum of this moment made me smile again, remembering, that everything is meant to move on and change to create development.

I raised my sore and beaten body to start my way home. Some hours passed and I eventually got to my destination.

My residence was next to my mom's and dad's. The little distance I gained to the two of them, even though it were only a few meters, made my life more bearable. This way I didn't have to hear scolding and insults about myself all the time. My mother was a very distant person and only tried to teach me everything about anything, trying to perfect me in every possible way. My father on the other hand trained me every day and wanted the family line to continue. He passed the knowledge of the smoke breathing technique onto me, because this breathing style was invented by our ancestors and was only performed in my family. The days back then were draining. Constant learning in the morning and then training till the sun sets, not to mention the punishment I would receive if I did something wrong... My illness made this whole routine even more exhausting. My parents allowed me some rest if my condition worsened, in that breaks I started to meditate, it helped me to push through and to enhance my endurance. This was my daily life back then, at some point I somehow managed to please my parents enough to avoid being beaten.

When I turned 20 I told my parents my wish to move out and stand on my own feet. They hesitated and weren't willing to allow me to live by myself without some conditions.

First: I have to train with my mentor and make noticeable progress.

Secondly: I have to visit them once a month and report my progress to them.

Last: I have to find myself a successful husband.

I mean at least they let the decision on whom I want to marry I my hands I guess...

Back to reality:

I stumbled inside my house and took off my shoes. Before I head to a doctor, I wanted to clean myself, it wasn't that big of a deal anyway. His only prescription will be to spare my body till everything is healed and perhaps some ointment.

I passed my little entrance hall which is built out of wood in a traditional Japan style. My feet led me through the small hallway and into my bathroom. There I shed out of the clothes and tossed them to the side planning to wash them some time later. In the mirror beside me I noticed a discoloration in my skin. As I looked closer, I realized that it was a hematoma. Now focused on my naked body in the reflection I saw many bruises scattered over my whole form. The one on my torso over my ribs stood out the most as this one turned dark purple, nearly black, indicating that there was a huge injury under my skin. Another glace showed me the blue hand mark on my neck which reminded me of the overwhelming strength I faced and the pain in my throat.

I sighted and started to fill my bathtub with water. The water was cold because I haven't heated the oven. But that wasn't a big issue, I enjoyed it like this.

While in the bathtub my thoughts wandered around and got stuck on a certain demon.

*Why did I even ask his name? It's not like I will see him again. *

Even though I tried to convince myself with this assumption my mind still lingered on him. Once again, a heavy sight left my lips.

*Why did he even wait so long for me to wake up? *

I knew I needed some time to comprehend the previous events and the fact that I was still alive after meeting an upper moon. My bath was cut short because I couldn't relax. I got ready and head off to my doctor. He told me to take some days off and stay in bed most of the time to help the healing process.

The days passed by rather slowly with nothing to do except resting. My body healed pretty fast as the marks began to dissolve already. My scrag wasn't hurting anymore either, the only visible sign that it was hurt were the slowly disappearing bruises. One major sign from my fight though was still very noticeable, my voice. I sounded like a raven trying to speak, my words were high pitched or quiet and sometimes not even a single sound would leave my mouth. The doctor said that it would take some time till I will be able to speak normally again. But my whole state of health was improving so nothing to worry about here.

My mental state on the other hand was like a roller-coaster since the fight with this demon. His focused and strong look and his whole self-confident aura left an impression in my mind. I couldn't detect why my mind was so stuck on him this whole time. His image always lingered in the back of my head.

His fighting stance, the perfect performance of every punch and his whole-body control told me from the very first sight, that he had mastered it over years and trained till perfection. This was an unlikely thing to do for demons, most of them only rely on their blood art and the naturally given strength when infected with the king's blood. He instead choose to master another style. This exception made him one of the strongest among them all and showed his ambition. But apart from that my thoughts also circled around other things related with him.

His eyes, they burned their image into my soul, and I couldn't get rid of it. When I got the chance to look at them closely, I felt so bound and couldn't bring myself to look away. My mind was blank at that moment. I only studied his features and his extraordinary mirrors to the soul. The way they glowed in the night reminded me of a flame in the dark. The blue part inside his eyes were permeated with dark lines almost like cracks in glass, this blue was vibrant and deep like the see. His unique pinkish eyelashes complimented the whole appearance. But the most mesmerizing were the yellow irises, shining bright like the sun but filled with hatred, anger, misery and pain.

The expression he held within his orbs reminded me of a maniac who has nothing to hold on to in his miserable live rather than fighting strong opponents to prove his worth to him and his master. I couldn't help but feel pity for this creature, the decision to abandon all human emotions must have been connected to great pain in his previous life.

He surely contained the eyes of a predator, someone who now found excitement and fun in killing 'the weak' still there were hidden emotions and a beauty in them which I wasn't able to deny. He stabbed me with his looks and under his watch I felt like an open book, like he knew everything and anything about me even though we only spoke a few words. I am aware that he is a very dangerous creature and that another encounter with him could mean my death. But I longed for the feeling I had when I inspected his eyes.

The rush of adrenaline pumping through my veins, the fast beating of my heart, out of fear or thrill I can't tell, and the rising heat in my body due to the shocking events and my rising blood pressure. My mind told me to stay away from this kind of thoughts and this demon, but somehow, I caught myself wishing for another encounter.

Clearly for research purposes only. I wanted to shake this feeling off, I am creeping myself out a little bit. I was taught from my very first day on earth to hate and kill his kind and now I am sympathizing with one of them just because he seemed like he has moral and not kill women?! What is wrong with me? These creatures are born from pain, madness, and anger. Now he causes pain and sorrow on humans, me, a lower ranked demon slayer, should avoid him at any cost. 

Song inspirations for this Chapter: 

Ellise, "Bruises"

You Me At Six, "Adrenaline"

Why don't we, "Fallin'(Adrenaline)"