Flowerbound [Kimetsu no Yaiba]

🌺 Chapter 5 🌺

Ajisaika was not surprised that Tennoji Sakaki and her brother, Tennoji Matsuemon, had come seeking the pair of Kamado siblings soon after them graduating through the Final Selection. It was clear that the land was running rampant with the presence of Demons that were relentless in killing humans – and they needed as many Demon Slayers working full-time as they could.

Life and Death – nothing can be more uncertain.
Or getting stuck somewhere in-between, as Demons were.

It appeared that Sakonji had noticed Ajisaika's curiosity about what truly made someone a Demon when she continued to inquire about it from the former Demon Slayer. And so, Sakonji had her and Tanjiro sit down with him after their dinner to make it clear to them in almost a warning.

"Tanjiro, listen to me closely as well," Sakonji said while Ajisaika listened with rapt interest. "The type of Demon with the blood that can turn humans into Demons... there's only one in this world,"

"Just one, hm?" Ajisaika asked, staring at Sakonji with her pink eyes, as if she would find out everything from him, even what he didn't know.

"The one who was the first to become a Demon more than a thousand years ago," explained Sakonji. "In other words, that is your family's foe. Moreover, I believe he's the one... who might know how to turn your sister back into a human. That Demon's name is... Kibutsuji Muzan,"

"Kibutsuji Muzan," repeated Ajisaika, her darkening eyes looking away from her trainer and toward the direction of the room where Nezuko slept. "Kibutsuji Muzan,"

Before they were to head out to their first assignment as they were tasked with, the pair of Kamado siblings were given their uniforms. Tanjiro had accepted the Demon Slayer uniform without any hesitation but Ajisaika had point-blank refused anything that Maeda Masao tried to give her.

"I see that you insisted on keeping your original design," Sakonji observed, appearing thoroughly unsurprised at the sight of the young girl in her uniform. "Of course, on special requests, they may give you your own choice of clothing,"

Instead of taking up the black uniform with the Kanji for Destroy embroidered on the back, Ajisaika had kept her style – Taisho-style Kimono that consisted of a light pink Kimono and darker pink Hakama. She ditched the traditional shoes for long black leather boots with a small heel.

"Ajisai-Chan didn't like the style of the uniform," Tanjiro said, smiling lightly as he watched his younger sister tie her hair up into a high ponytail. "Even with the tattsuke-hakama..."

"They are saggy and ugly," Ajisaika replied calmly, reaching for her earrings so that she could put them on as well. "I apologise, I saw them on Tomioka-San and it was unflattering,"

"... right..." Tanjiro said, now very self-conscious about how his sister would think of him. "But you could've still taken up the skirt, right? They say a lot of girls opt for skirts now,"

"They are childish and a disaster waiting to happen," replied Ajisaika as she pulled on her new Nichirin Sword and her favourite rosewood red Haori.

"Let her be as she wishes to be, she has her own sense of identity," Sakonji spoke up, and he appeared to be faintly amused by the girl. "I'm sure Ajisaika has her own set of ideals,"

Those words reminded Ajisaika of the conversation that she had once had with Sakonji when he had questioned her ideals – and he had mentioned that she emitted the feeling of Miyabi.

Elegant, refined and aristocratic – Miyabi implored for the elimination of anything that was vulgar. It demanded the polishing of manners, of diction and of the control over one's emotions as such so that one would eliminate all roughness and crudity from their personality – to achieve the highest grace. This sensitivity to beauty had once been the hallmark of the Heian era.