Demon Slayer: Love Is...[Book 1] || Tengen Uzui x OC

Chapter 8-Love is Kind [Pt 1]

       This chapter has been completely and totally revised (i.e I rewrote this chapter entirely), so for anyone who has read this chapter before and new readers please make sure to read all parts, 1, 2 and 3. My apologies if part 3 seems a little rushed towards the middle.

For a long while, there was just forest. Lots of trees, bushes, grass, and nothing more. I started to think that I might have taken a wrong turn. Usually, there are certain markers that I can rely on to help me remember the way to Tengen's house and back. So when I no longer could recognize specific patches of foliage I started to wonder maybe I really was lost. However, It wasn't until three steps later that I would know for sure.

"OW!! God...!" I groaned, bending over to briefly inspect my now throbbing toe. "It better not be broken..."

In my daze to figure out where I was going, I managed to ram my foot right into a large stone on the ground. Strangely enough, it was all I needed to mark exactly where I was. So, as annoyed as I was about stubbing my toe, I was more excited that I had found this rock. Either way, the pain was bearable and was slowly fading. After just taking a few steps to find that I could still walk properly, I determined I would be fine.

"Not broken...that's good," I muttered with a sigh.

When I finally looked up from the rock, I noted the tall tree just beside it; its thick branches loomed over me with a sheet of leaves to shield me from the faint rays of the sun, and its roots, burrowing deep into the soil beneath my feet, with only a few strays jutting out from the ground, expanded at least several feet beyond where I was currently standing in all directions. Then, right there, in the center of the tree's enormous trunk was a small and rather lackadaisically carved engraving. The writing had been so small and with so little effort to be legible that you could almost mistake it for claw marks from an animal.

I ran my fingers along the marks, reading aloud the words that had been written. There were two lines of engravings. The first of which read:

"Happy Place"

Then, I slid my fingers down along the rugged bark of the trunk and found the second set:

"Saito + Uzui"

It had been written in a type of code sort of speak. That way should anyone have found it, they would not know what it meant. A secret kept from Tengen's father that only myself, Tengen, and my siblings knew, and we could escape to this area in the forest when we were younger. When we wanted to just be alone to our thoughts. Or when we had come up with a new game to play. Anything could be an excuse to come here. Especially if it meant being hidden away, safe from the vicious gaze of Tengen's father and the ever-watching eyes of his clan members

As I thought back to the many times that I had come to this tree I remembered something. Tengen had always seemed so annoyed when he would come here.

"Did your brain melt or something? My father and his clan have eyes everywhere. Do you really think he won't find a way to drag me back home from wherever I try to hide?"

"It's not stupid, Uzui-san. And that's because it's not meant to be a hiding place. Think of it like a...like a checkpoint. Any time you feel set back or want to start over again, just have a place to restart in your mind. You can come here and always make your way back home on your own when you're ready. No one will know what this means except me you, and my siblings. You're not hiding Tengen, you're just getting a bit of a reset."