"Flower Hashira Kanae Kocho is deceased! Kanae Kocho lost in battle against upper moon 2, Douma, as her younger sister, Shinobu Kocho, survived!"
The Kasugai crow screeched as the water pillar stood in his path home, nothing but a silent "I see" emerging from his lips, the raven haired man took a small piece of bread from his uniform's pocket feeding it to his old crow before it took off once more. A small thought popped up in his head, very random, though, it's valid, " how is Shinobu " he thought, see, he himself has known what it was like to loose a sister, and somewhat of a brother as well. On the way home, the emotionless male stood by the entrance of the butterfly estate, in where the girls surrounded a weeping Shinobu and a dead Kanae, the youngest child stood from a far, sweating profoundly instead of mourning, after a while, he went back to his journey home.
Once the male got home, he entered his bedroom, sitting in front of a small desk with paper and ink, an oil lamp as the only source of light. Picking up the brush, dipping it on the ink, he positioned the writing tool atop the paper, thinking of what to write.
" My dearest, Kocho," he wrote, pausing for a second, his ocean blue eyes glued on the paper, pondering upon what next to write, head perking up slightly, he wrote on the paper, told her what he thought would make her feel better, just because. As he finished the letter he ended it with his name, a sign to tell her that he's there if he needed her. Folding it neatly and sealing it, the water hashira passed the letter to his crow, bidding him to send it to the butterfly estate, specifically to Shinobu.
As his crow ducked into the young girl's office, her insect like eyes landed upon the letter attached to it's leg, picking it up she read it a small smile spread on her face as she read the male's words, telling her that everything will be fine, stories of things Kanae has said when she was still alive, the ones about her specifically. The young girl felt somewhat safe, as she was comforted by the water hashira himself. In return, she wrote a note thanking him, folding it into a butterfly like origami, sending it back via crow. The slight pen pal situation went on until Shinobu was finally comfortable enough to go back to work, a year later after her older sister's death, within the year, Shinobu was known to be able to kill demons with a smile, her behaviour similar to her late sister's. Tomioka noticed that, and he knew exactly why, exactly why she acted like such. Once again, he wrote letters, he wrote letters like he used to, but never even once did he get a response, nor did he stop.
His writings were kept safe in a box as Kocho finally read them, it was only 3 years later when she finally has, she was in such a deep state of misery she didn't understand herself, all the words he told her she wished she heard sooner. The female sat on the wooden floor, eyes filled with tears, her hands gripped on the paper, re-reading all the unread paragraphs for her, searching for signs, words and answers. The memories she never opened finally out and seen, as the announcement of his death struck her so deeply.
From the simple "How was your day?"s or "I did what you said about my injuries"
"You looked very lovely if I could put it in that way, your sister would have been really proud"
"congratulations on getting hashira, though I think you'd rather hear that from someone else"
"I found your technique quite amusing, if only I was as brilliant to be able to think of that"
all of those words, all of those sentences she took for granted for years, all of those she had regret, the very last letter he sent was from before the mission, the mission in where he got killed. "....My next mission in near a temple, demons were said to be spotted by the same village, along with upper moon 2, I know he killed your sister and it made you sad, so I'd probably pay him a visit... I'm sorry in advance" the insect hashira read, her eyebrows furrowed as she clutches onto the paper, her vision getting more foggy from the tears and the crying. She knew what she had to do. Kocho was ahead of herself, she already knows that in about a year's time she had to go, and maybe so she can apologize to him.. to both of them, picking up a pen and a paper she wrote, she wrote as though she was finally responding to the pages of support and the only few things that can keep her close to him, the last few things that can keep her close to him.
"I was foolish, I was foolish enough to pretend I didn't care, say we weren't friends, I'm so sorry I did all of this.. and now you're gone, you're gone like the others. I don't know what else to do but this is the only way I could stay close to you. I was too proud of myself, I was too focused on avenging Kanae, I forgot so many others cared for me too.. but Tomioka-san, I promise I'll be there, I'll meet you again soon, and I'll actually tell you I'm sorry, I no longer will pretend I hated you, and this time I will respond.. I wish you were still here, I shouldn't have dragged you into this..I should have cherished the time we had, I should've told you what I felt in the past.. now I lost my partner, and even if I don't say we are.. my friend, I'm so sorry." she wrote, folding it into a butterfly origami like before, placing it in a wooden box.
The female stood by his grave, her haori no longer was just the butterfly patterned one, but a portion had the late water hashira's pattern, the wooden box with her letter and white flowers in hand, she placed it down by the stone which bared his name saying her final goodbyes as she left, preparing her next suicidal move, just for the sake of vengeance.
end.
