My Brightest Flame (Rengoku X Reader)

Chapter 24 - I'll Kill You

"That's right, you definitely should do that. You're already in no shape to go up against a demon like me." Akaza butted in, grinning widely. Of course, he had no intention of fighting this woman, he would never choose to fight females in general. "And you know, while we're at it, perhaps you were never meant to be a demon slayer in the first place, hm?" He teased, all in good fun. At least for him. He expected her to leave at the flame hashira's command, almost surprised when she leapt forward to attack him.

While he blocked, y/n attempted to pick up her pace. She had to be faster. Any violent interaction between Akaza and Kyojuro needed to be avoided and for that, she had to be so fast that the flame hashira could never find an opening. Was she fast enough? No, but she could try. "You can keep attacking, burn yourself out for all I care, but I will not hurt you again!" The demon started to grow concerned, as this so called hashira truly seemed to have a death wish.

"Then don't fight back." Y/N laughed, the burning of her skin and aching of her bones as her organs bled begged her to stop. But she didn't care about her body at this point, if anything, she had already taken so much that if she were to stop now it would be a waste. If she were to be stuck unable to hunt down demons after this, she wanted to make sure that she would destroy the last demon she would ever be able to. "It just makes it easier for me." A sinister smile grew across her face, as she attempted to use one of her galaxy forms. The pain interfered and the move failed, she grew annoyed as she realised she would have to make do with what she had left. Akaza smiled back, admiring the guts it took, although it may have been bordering stupidity. But he still knew how to move her away from the fight, which was in the interest of both him and the flame hashira it seemed. The woman didn't notice as he backed them up past the two weaker demon slayers and closer to the people that the lower moon failed to kill.

"Do as the flame said." He grins, before moving entirely out of sight. Y/N stopped after striking the air for a moment, wondering where the demon had went. Innocent people who were still confused and relieved to be alive stared at her with awe, but she didn't even notice them as she noticed the trick she had fallen for. With an annoyed groan she turned back the way she came, still able to clearly see as Kyojuro and Akaza continued their fight.

"Turn into a demon, Kyojuro." Akaza spoke as he stopped in front of the flame hashira, grinning insanely. He didn't care that his kick barely hurt the human, as he could easily do it again, even kill him if he wanted. But this little sparring session was too much fun, and he did genuinely want this specific demon slayer to become one of his kind. "Fight me forever and get stronger together with me. You have what it takes to do that!" The hashira truly had a unique strength, it would be a waste otherwise.

"I'll pass." Kyojuro muttered, glaring at the demon as he tried to search for the woman he cared for. It would be harder to focus now that he was unsure where she was, could he really trust that this demon wouldn't have hurt her? The thought alone that this demon had won and ended y/n's life brought back the burning rage he rarely felt, the last time being when y/n had refused to listen to him. "Let me repeat it. I don't like you! I will not become a demon!" He finalised his decision by forming his stance, sprinting forward into an attack.

Y/N had caught up at this point, watching carefully as the two continued their fight. She had wanted to join in and still intended to, but she had nowhere near enough strength left to actually fight. Though she was so sure that she would be able to kill this demon, she hadn't truly understood how unbalanced the fight would have been between her and this demon. She had barely done anything to it, and all it had done was block her when it could have killed her.

"You still don't get it? That if you continue attacking, you're just getting closer to death, Kyojuro?" Y/N flinched, not in pain, but at the words of the demon. This was how it went...Her eyes closed for a moment as tears built themselves up. Was there really anything she could do? Well, she wouldn't know if she had her eyes closed, would she? Her eyes snapped open as her ears automatically had tuned into the sounds, hearing the noise of bones cracking even from all the way over where she was, next to the boar and injured slayers. Her heart sank as it felt like her stomach reached her throat... Kyojuro was not handling this fight well. He didn't have the upper hand at any moment whatsoever, even when he had the strong enough move to halt the fight for another temporary moment. He was way stronger than she was. What could she do?

"Did he do it? Did he win?" Yelled the boar, though it was more of a hope. If only he could speak things into existence...But Akaza still stood, his body twisting back into place as he regenerated easily. Kyojuro, however, was in much worse state. Total concentration breathing, something that had become easy for him, was now a challenge to keep up. His left eye was completely destroyed and y/n was sure he had plenty of broken bones. She was similar, although she tried to ignore her pain as much as she could. At least she managed to take the hit that would have broken his organs. That was when she remembered, the pain ten times more powerful now that she had recalled the kick she had taken earlier. It took almost everything in her to keep herself standing, attempting to form some sort of plan. Medical care may reach her fast enough to be able to help her, but she doubted it. Her internal body parts were bleeding out, it couldn't be long now until she would lose consciousness, and likely die. She had quick thinking until now, why was her brain stopping now. She grew frustrated, trying to hunt for a scenario in which her beloved Kyojuro would survive.

While she remained to the side, Kyojuro repeated his promise, his duty that he had carried on from his father by becoming a slayer and hashira. What could she do in this moment? Her body was destroyed, any intense move could be enough to ruin her. Breathing styles, attacks and anything similar were out the window. That demon refused to fight women, he seemed committed to that and so, she couldn't distract him much more. No one here could kill an upper moon, not even Kyojuro. But, neither the demon nor the flame hashira had noticed her yet...She could sneak up, but fast. Then what? If killing Akaza wasn't possible...She had no time to think as Kyojuro used the signature ninth form, putting all of his power into whatever tactic he had managed. Y/N had followed behind, being as light on her feet as she went. She could only pray that the fire would hide her well enough that she wouldn't notice, behind her, she heard the green demon slayer call out for Kyojuro. But he was too focused and y/n took advantage of that. She ran around them to attempt coming from the direction that they didn't expect, so that if she interfered the impact would move them closer to the only physically okay slayer around. Maybe he could do something. They couldn't see her and she couldn't see them, but she couldn't hesitate. All she could do was hope she made it and that it would work out, leaping forward through the flames and pushing all her weight to her upper body. It was so bright that she couldn't even see what had happened...

While Kyojuro had his eyes open the whole time, whatever had occured was so insanely fast that he had ended up sat on the floor a good distance from where he was while fighting with Akaza. Next to where he was sat was Tanjiro and behind him was the boar headed slayer, and both stared at him with confusion. Simultaneously they all looked to where he should have been, the sight before him dropping his body temperature to a level so low he actually felt cold for the first time in his life...

"Y/N!" Screamed the flame hashira, his heart shattering at the scene. It pounded as he watched what would have happened to him, and he begged for it not to be true...

Akaza was there, his arm through her body as blood dripped from her mouth and from the wound. However, she had exhausted herself, she wasn't even conscious to notice the pain of the horrible death she was now doomed to face. The demon cursed at his mistake as he broke his harm off, catching the dying woman before she dropped to the floor.

Even with one eye Kyojuro could see it clearly, although he hoped that if be blinked it would be a different scene. He felt tears form in his remaining eye as he leapt to his feat, ready to run forward. His colleagues, promised to be tsugukos, stopped him from approaching the scene. It wasn't even a second later when the demon had disappeared with y/n's paling body. And although he was so far away already, Kyojuro yelled at the top of his lungs, demanding her back. But for what? She could already be dead, and if she wasn't, there would be nothing he could do. While his body was in physical pain, the sharp stabbing feeling his heart felt made him complete entirely about his body's condition. Everything around him stopped existing as grief shot through his body. The last time he had ever felt this way, cried this way, was when his mother had passed.

For the first time in a long time he actually felt powerless...