𝔏𝔬𝔞𝔡𝔦𝔫𝔤...
𝔏𝔬𝔞𝔡𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔖𝔲𝔠𝔠𝔢𝔰𝔰𝔣𝔲𝔩!
𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥!
𝔾𝕠
Around a month had past in the fortress and there wasn't a single day that she didn't think about going back. Mizue longed to go back and watch the koi fish with Muichiro and Naho or pick peaches with Senjuro. She even wanted to meet Giyuu and Gyomei.
"How are your wounds doing?" Aizetsu asked, handing Mizue a bowl of fluffy rice. "They look like scars now and it still hurts when I use my hands." Mizue informed, picking up chopsticks. "You've been training since you got stabbed." Aizetsu muttered.
"Yeah, but I don't intend to stop." Mizue was getting the hint she shouldn't be. Aizetsu looked over to her and back at his food. "Daki and Gyutaro are going out to the Red Light District tonight if you wanted to see what that's like." Aizetsu suggested. (I made it sooner because Kyojuro didn't die)
"For now, go talk to Gyokko." Aizetsu said, placing a hot towel on Mizue's palms. "Ow! That stings!" Mizue whined. "Oh, sorry." He apologized but kept pressing down on her hands.
"Okay, okay! I'll go see him and then I'll go with Daki and Gyutaro." Mizue got up and left the room. "She forgot to eat her rice..." Aizetsu thought to himself. A biwa struck as she appeared behind Gyokko while he was painting.
"You wanted to see me?" Mizue asked. "Today, Gyokko-sama will be teaching you how to paint a pot properly!" Gyokko said, handing her a plain pot. "I'm lucky to be taught by you, Gyokko-sama!" Mizue complimented.
"Yes, you are." Gyokko muttered. He instructed her how to paint a flower first. Well, your typical flower that looks like a second grader drawn it. She loved painting easy flowers, so she filled the pot's exterior with low quality flowers.
"It's a start." Gyokko patted her head and gave her another pot. Now they tried harder flowers, like detailed roses. "And layering is very important when doing this!" Gyokko informed, stroking his paintbrush on the pot.
Mizue layered her rose petals and it began to look a bit better until her wrist flicked black paint onto it. "Damn." Mizue thought. "That's alright! It makes your rose quite unique if you make a mistake! So continue!" Gyokko exclaimed, placing a palette of colors onto the floor. "I want to be as good as you someday!" Mizue smiled. "And you never will be." Gyokko teased.
"Color it in and outline it at the end." Gyokko instructed. "What was the point of making lines on the inside if- never mind..." Mizue thought and took red paint onto her brush. In the end, it looked like a droopy rose.
"You could've done worse, so here!" Gyokko gave her a wooden plate with three onigiri placed on top. She thanked Gyokko and started munching on her onigiri. "How's your hands doing?" Gyokko asked.
"They hurt, but I'll be fine. I'll keep working hard." Mizue replied, biting into her onigiri. "How come you don't rest?" Gyokko questioned. "I want to become stronger than am so I can be equal to those who can protect me and I can protect them. But right now, I'm weak." Mizue responded, looking over to her pot.
"For goodness sake, child. Sometimes you're seriously fucking stupid." Gyokko scolded, slapping her. "Hey!" Mizue rubbed the top of her head while he kept scolding her. She zoned out, rethinking about the demon slayer, Kie.
They had some of the same physical attributes. But she had to come to her senses. Her sister is dead and won't come back.
"Are you even listening?" Gyokko asked. "Gyokko-sama, do you know anything about my little sister?" Mizue questioned. "I didn't even know you had one." Gyokko claimed. "Huh." Mizue thought.
"Well that was your painting lesson for today. Now out! Gyokko-sama's time is very important!" Gyokko said, pushing her outside the room. "O-okay then?" Mizue heard the biwa strum and she was suddenly falling through doors and doors that appeared under her feet.
She fell around five feet on her back. "Oh, you're here now." Kokushibo commented. "Let's begin." Mizue muttered. She would train with him like crazy until she fainted. Although they both had wooden sticks to fight with, it sure gave Mizue a lot of bruises and muscle pain.
They clashed sticks and never hesitated. "Use offence equally as defense. You only use defense and only strike when I'm close to range." Kokushibo suggested. Mizue slashed her stick into Kokushibo's left rib or so she thought. He dodged her attack and striked the stick on her head, leaving her unconscious.
He sighed, brought Mizue back over to Aizetsu and left her sleeping. "Ow!" Mizue had woken up quickly due to Aizetsu's hot towel. "Please stop." Mizue said, sitting up. Her legs were covered in heavy blankets, making her sweat as she continued to lay down on the floor with a pillow.
Aizetsu didn't listen and placed the hot towel on her stomach. "It burns..." Mizue mumbled. "You can withstand Kokushibo's hits but not a hot towel." Aizetsu chuckled. She rolled to her side so Aizetsu wouldn't place it again. "Please stop moving." Aizetsu said, trying to place the towel on her injuries.
She kept rolling side to side with a teasing face. Annoyed, Aizetsu took both of her hands, put the towel on her right hand and smashed the hands together. "OWWW!" Mizue yelled out. "If you let me tend to your wounds, I'll make some mochi." Aizetsu offered, crushing her hands harder. "Alright..." Mizue agreed to his conditions and laid down.
"We're going out! You coming, Mizue?" Daki asked. Mizue sat up and nodded. "No, I'm treating her wounds." Aizetsu explained. "Aw..." Mizue groaned and fell back in the futon.
"Maybe another time then!" Daki waved goodbye and headed out to the red light district. "Wanna come make mochi with me? It's always fun to make food with you." Aizetsu offered. Mizue's eyes lit up and she nodded rapidly.
Aizetsu chuckled and helped her out of bed. The room slowly turned sideways and the entrance door opened up to an upside down kitchen. They helped each other get right side up and began the process.
They steamed the rice flour and hammered it but they needed a third person to help. Thankfully, Akaza appeared, hearing the attempts to make mochi with two people and helped slap the mochi with water. (I'm not sure how they do it, but from research, it's something like this)
"Are we all shaping it?" Akaza asked. "Of course!" Mizue nodded. Akaza seemed somewhat exhausted from slapping the mochi but didn't stop working at it. They all shaped a bunch of mochi and placed red bean paste inside before shaping.
"Are we almost done?" Akaza asked. "We only have five more to go!" Mizue cheered on Akaza. Aizetsu seemed to be very speedy when making mochi. But he suddenly froze. "Aizetsu, what's wrong?" Mizue questioned.
"I'm sorry, I have to go." Aizetsu ran out of the room without explaination. "Alright Akaza! You ready?" Mizue asked. "No..." Akaza whispered. "Good! Let's make two more pieces!" Mizue exclaimed, handing him the rice flour dough. "Just one more..." Akaza tried to encourage himself.
After a minute, they both finished and ate some mochi together. "Aren't you going to sleep?" Akaza asked, as it was night time for her and hunting time for him. "Yep! I hope you find some good food tonight!" Mizue replied, chewing on mochi.
"Let me just eat one more mochi-" Mizue was interrupted by Nakime's biwa which telported her to her room. "Nakime-san...why?..." Mizue got back in her futon and under the blankets. It was usually hard for her to sleep, but she had a strange feeling.
She lit her lantern again and tried to see if she could find anyone who wasn't hunting. Without Nakime, it was hard to get to places and rooms. Mizue heard a footstep and turned around. She didn't see anyone but she felt someone touching her shoulder from behind.
Mizue let out a small yelp and turned around immediately. "What are you doing this late at night?" Kokushibo interrogated. "You aren't trying to escape again, are you?" Kokushibo asked. "What?! No, of course not. That would be stupid." Mizue whispered.
"I just felt weird in my room. Like someone was watching me." Mizue explained. "Oh. Come with me." Kokushibo grabbed her hand and in a blink of an eye, they were in a small house in the middle of nowhere. "You can stay here while I hunt around the area." Kokushibo instructed.
"It still feels weird." Mizue muttered. She looked around the house to inspect it. There were three futons in the room she was currently in. She pulled the sliding door open and saw a low table with a pretty small kitchen.
"Someone lives her-" Mizue paused to hear a feminine voice from behind her. "Who are you and why are you in my house?" It was a young woman. Around fourteen years old. She wore her hair up in two buns and had a black yukata on.
"O-oh! Sorry about that! I don't have anywhere to sleep." Mizue lied and started to feel sick. Whenever Mizue would lie as a child, she would cry and tell the truth. "Don't worry. You can stay, I enjoy the company." The young woman sighed.
"My parents died of demons a few days ago and I didn't have any siblings so now I just live here. I'm Nanae Sakurakoji." She introduced herself, lighting a lantern. "I'm Mizue Shinguji." Mizue replied. "I'll make some food for you." Nanae smiled, going to the kitchen.
She stopped at the sliding door and paused. Nanae started shaking in fear and couldn't move. "Shinguji-san. I want you to run." Nanae instructed, grabbing a broom. "What's wrong?" Mizue asked, getting up from her futon.
As she got up, Nanae's body fell to the floor, a blade stabbed in her throat. It wasn't Kokushibo's or any she's ever seen. It was a dagger of some sort. "Oh, another one, huh?" It was a female demon dressed as a demon slayer with two daggers in each of her hands.
She had pale skin and white hair that reached down to her knees. Green eyes that shimmered like emeralds and short horns of the color beige.
The woman came closer to her slowly. Then at full speed, she clashed with Mizue's blade. "Thank you Rengoku for giving me this!" Mizue thought, blocking her opponent's dagger from coming any closer.
"Use offence equally as defense. You only use defense and only strike when I'm close to range." Mizue's flashback hit her as she swung her sword upwards, cutting her face in half. The woman smirked, regenerated and threw her dagger at Mizue's left arm.
Thankfully, Mizue had dodged it and got in range of her neck from behind. "I hope this is a nichirin blade, Rengoku." Mizue thought as she sliced horizontally, decapitating the demon. "Did I do it?" Mizue wondered, looking over to the woman's head.
Mizue watched as she crumpled into ash and dust but unlike most demons, the woman didn't say anything. "Could you tell me of your past before you go?" Mizue requested. She loved hearing about people's stories.
The woman nodded as her body sat up. The decapitated body's finger pressed onto Mizue's forehead. She could see it. Mizue was like a ghost looking through her memories. Apparently the woman was named Muika.
Muika was a demon slayer who loved a man who was in the same final selection as her. When she admitted her feelings a year later, the man already had a wife but didn't tell Muika. He agreed to marrying her if she turned into a demon.
Muika was hesitant, but agreed to doing so. But after she turned into a demon, the man tried to kill her. But as a demon, her strength was much higher. She had killed him with his wife witnessing from behind a corner.
But instead of killing her, she understood that the woman was his wife or girlfriend by catching him kissing after she admitted it. So she spared her for him cheating on the both of them.
She came back to the normal world but, Muika had already disappeared. Mizue looked over to Nanae and carried her soulless body outside. Mizue spent an hour in the night burying Nanae. Mizue definitely couldn't sleep well after that. She eventually did but it took quite some time.
In the morning she woke up in her room again and wondered if it was a dream that felt real. She decided to accept that it happened and it's already done. "Mizu-chan, you're awake! Apparently, he wants to meet with us!" Douma exclaimed.
"Why?" Mizue asked. "I don't know." Douma said, walking out of the room. Mizue decided to get up and change before Nakime teleported her. Afterwards everyone was found on a platform of some sort. "Where's Kokushibo? He didn't die, did he?" Mizue wondered.
"Good morning, Akaza." Mizue yawned and greeted him. "Good morning." Akaza greeted back. "Biwa woman, where's Muzan?" Akaza asked. "He's not here yet." Nakime responded.
"What about Kokushibo? There's no way he'd get killed." Akaza commented. "Wait Akaza-dono! Aren't you gonna show some concern for me?" Douma exclaimed, holding onto Akaza's shoulder.
"Uhm, Douma-san, you should move your arm." Mizue warned. "Hmm? How com-" Douma was punched by Akaza roughly. Possibly breaking his jaw.
"Muzan-sama has arrived." Nakime announced. "The upper moons have been waned. Gyuutaro and Daki are dead." Muzan said.
"Huh?" Mizue's felt heart pain for the first time in her life.
♥ "Maybe another time then!" ♥ - Daki