boketto || t. kamado

twenty-seven

I'm so determined to finish this book, I've got it all mapped out in my head and my planning draft is 10,000+ words.
No gif again today cause I'm on my phone at 3 AM 😎

"Fight me again!"

"Absolutely not."

The boar-headed boy yelled a roar of annoyance, stomping his feet against the ground at my disapproval. He really was an annoying guy sometimes - at least Zenitsu only gave me scared glares and muttered about not wanting a terrifying woman as a wife. But this guy - Inosuke - was relentlessly trying to beat me in a spar. Apparently, he and Tanjiro had sparred as well on their last mission and my warm friend had beaten him then as well. But I seemed to be a more satisfying opponent for reasons I didn't quite understand.

Probably because I had humored him once or twice and beaten him swiftly both times. His intuition was incredible, honestly. But as someone with aura sight, I'd learned to dampen my own presence and use certain abilities to stealthfully gain the upper hand on my opponent. A swift chop to a specific part of his neck had incapacitated him several times already without hurting him too badly. Not that I was worried about hurting him. He certainly wasn't worried about hurting me.

But I was growing bored of entertaining his desire to spar and was trying to escape now. We'd all almost healed completely and I expected us to head out soon onto our next mission. I didn't feel like wasting needless energy sparring with this weird kid.

Thankfully, Tanjiro came to the rescue just as I was getting close to sparring with him again just to shut him up. The warm boy stepped in front of Inosuke, "We should rest for our next mission. We'll probably be heading off soon."

"I can beat a demon and the Ghost God!" Inosuke claimed. I'm honestly not sure where he got the 'God' part from but he did claim himself to be king of the mountains. He also seemed unable to call any of us by our real names.

"I'm not a god," I reminded him, folding my arms over my chest.

The boar guy rebutted, "Then how do you explain your weird presence?! Or your ability to best me in combat?!"

"Training," I stated simply, "And I can suppress my own aura."

"I don't know what that means!" He called out with a triumphant laugh into the sky.

A sigh was the best I could manage, turning on my heel and briskly walking inside despite his calls for me to fight him like a real god. I am no god - that much was for certain.

Behind me, I sensed Tanjiro following as his aura became apparent, and then his footsteps once Inosuke were quiet enough for me to hear them. With some quick strides, he appeared next to me and followed me into the building and down the halls, a gentle expression on his face as we walked quietly.

Eventually, he asked, "How's your leg?"

"You ask every day, Tanjiro," I mused softly, "It's fine. Pretty much fully healed."

He reached a hand up to his neck sheepishly, "Sorry, I'm just worried."

A hum in acknowledgment was what I gave him, "I know. I'm fine, I promise. I can handle myself."

"I know," He quickly rushed, nearly startling me and making me glance toward him. Tanjiro bowed his head a bit, "I didn't mean to make it seem like you're not a capable swordsman."

My brow furrowed, "Tanjiro, I didn't take it that way at all. I understand you're worried."

"...Right," He mumbled, a hint of color on his face and a bit of desaturated red in his aura, telling me of his slight embarrassment. This was... odd.