Naomi's P. O. V:
"Naomi!" I hear Giyu and Sanemi exclaim worriedly as they run towards my prostrate form, covered in bloody cuts and my uniform torn in certain areas.
I see Giyu's face as he reaches me first and he drops down to his knees beside me. His beautiful blue orbs widen as follows with worry as he carefully pulls me into his arms. "Naomi-chan... are you alright? Talk to me."
Sanemi appears beside the ravenette and he swears aloud, taking in my battered state.
"G-Giyu-kun... S-Sanemi-kun..." I manage to utter, relief swimming in the former's eyes.
Giyu hugs me close to him as he murmurs, "You're alive! You're going to be okay, Naomi-chan. We'll get you out of here."
"No... go... you have to leave me," I stammer, causing both males to gaze at me in confusion.
"I won't leave you!" Giyu snsps. "You're coming home with us, understand?"
I gaze up at Giyu's blue orbs, burning with life. Then, I feel a strange sensation come over me, my body stiffening as a thought enters my head.
"Naomi?" Sanemi mutters. I grip my sword hilt and, despite the pain dancing through my body, I swing my katana for my boyfriend. Gasping, he releases me and jumps away with Sanemi. "What the bloody hell was that?!"
"It must be the demon's Blood Demon Art!" Giyu says wearily as I slid back to stand beside said demon, having emerged from the shadows of the cave.
"Reinforcements? This woman must be a weak Hashira, then," Says the demon, and I feel my blood boil in anger at that. I would've glared dangerously at it were it not for the fact I was under its mind control.
It did not just call me weak!
"Say hello to my new pet!" The demon says, patting my head.
"Don't you dare touch her!" Sanemi roars just as Giyu does.
"If you really want her back, you'll have to kill me. But I highly doubt that."
I try to fight the power coursing through me but my body faces towards the Tomioka. He gazes back at me before I dash towards him and Sanemi. I swing my blade but they each deflect it.
"This is that demon's Blood Demon Art?" Sanemi asks Giyu. He nods his head.
"Yes, so try not to hurt her. This isn't Naomi's doing." I try to slice the white haired male. He may be my friend and I could go all out, but I still didn't want to hurt him.
"Crystal Breathing, First Form: Quartz Slash," I murmur. I swing my sword for the shocked Shinazugawa who deflects it with his own sword.
"Pull yourself together, Suishou!" Sanemi snaps. We exchange more blows before I notice Giyu about to attack the demon controlling me.
Much to Sanemi's surprise, I leap between them and land a powerful roundhouse kick that knocks the Water Hashira away. I didn't want to protect the demon, but my body was forcing me to.
I run at Giyu and continually swing my sword. He dodges it each time as he calls to Sanemi, "Sanemi! Take care of the demon! I'll handle Naomi!"
"Right. Bring your girl back to us, Tomioka," Sanemi says before he goes to attack the demon.
I go to follow to protect it, but then Giyu hooks his foot around my ankles and I start to fall forward as he trips me up. Giyu grabs me and I end up on my back with the blue eyed man straddling my hips, his legs overlapping mine. I try to keep my grip on my sword but Giyu pulls it out of my hand, before he grabs both of my wrists and pins them above my head.
I try to throw him off of me, but Giyu was far heavier than me.
Giyu places his free hand on the left side of my bloodied face, his touch gentle, eyes and face soft. "Naomi-chan," He murmurs as I hear Sanemi battling the demon behind us. "Naomi-chan, please! You have to fight it!" I continue to try and attack the man above me but his grip is too strong for me to shake. "I know you can. You're the strongest woman I've ever met. That's why I love you, and I can't bear to lose you. Remember that promise you made me, all those years ago? Remember, and come back to me, Naomi-chan."
I pause as my mind wanders back to the night of Final Selection. Giyu hugging me, and asking me to never leave his side again.
"Promise me you'll never leave my side again."
"I promise. We'll be together forever."
Tears well up in my eyes but I fight against the demon's control. I think back to when Giyu first confessed to me, by ourselves under a sakura tree in the spring.
Warmth floods my chest and the demon's hold slips away. I blink my eyes to focus on Giyu's mesmerising ones, eyes that always pull me in, no matter how hard I try to look away.
Then, I feel the demon lose its hold on me completely, and I stutter, feeling tears well up in my eyes, "Y-Yu-kun...!"
Crushing relief enters his own eyes as Giyu gently pulls me into a tight hug. "Naomi-chan! You came back to me." I son as I hug him back, ignoring the pain in my body, and the fact my outfit was badly ripped. We pull back and he takes off his haori, threading it through my arms. "There. We'll tend to your wounds as soon as possible. Right now, stay there while I help Sanemi defeat the demon."
Giyu stands up as I protest, "No, Giyu! Let me help! I know how we can beat it! Please, let me help you."
"No. You're too injured. You can barely move," Giyu says pointedly.
".... Whatever you do, just don't make eye contact with it. That's how you avoid getting caught," I say after a hesitant pause.
Giyu nods his thanks before reappearing beside Sanemi and sending out a Constant Flux. The demon was stunned to learn I'd broken free of its mind control.
"Wind Breathing, Sixth Form: Black Mountain Mist!" Sanemi twists his body in an uppercut that strikes the demon, knocking it back. It growls in anger.
"Water Breathing, Third Form: Flowing Dance," Giyu says, swinging and bending his sword in a winding motion along his body, aiming to cut up the demon. It manages to evade the attack.
"You're beginning to annoy me!" The demon roars.
Giyu warns the Wind Hashira, "The only way to avoid its Blood Demon Art is by avoiding eye contact with it."
"And, Naomi?" Sanemi asks.
"She's alright. Badly wounded, but she's alright."
"You're gonna regret cutting her up like that, you filthy demon!" Sanemi growls. "Wind Breathing, Seventh Form: Gale Sudden Gusts!" He leaps into the air just as the demon evades the attack, Sanemi swinging his blade to create winds that would've sliced up the demon.
"Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide, Turbulant," Giyu says, slashing and swing his katana.
The demon continues to evade their attacks. It was so focused on the males that it seems to have forgotten about me.
I know I promised Giyu I wouldn't, but this is my chance to use my Crystal Dust technique to finish it, by catching the demon off guard!
Making as little noise as possible, I force myself to my feet and think, my rainbow katana gripped in my hands, "Crystal Breathing, First Form: Quartz Slash."
I reappear before the demon and bring my blade down upon it. It barely manages to evade it. Giyu gasps as I fight through the pain. I have my eyes closed as I activate my Seismic Sense technique. I'll rely on it and my senses.
"Naomi, what are you doing?! You can't fight!" Giyu shouts at me.
"I can do this. I'm the only one able to defeat the demon," I pant.
"We'll see about that! Blood Demon Art: Mind Control!" The demon says angrily. It tries to take control of me but I feel nothing. A smirk tugs at my lips. "What?!" The demon tries it again but fails.
"I've worked it out," I say. You can only control someone's mind through eye contact. As long as I keep my eyes closed, you can't get to me."
"There's no way you can fight with your eyes closed!" The demon tells me. I appear before it and swing my blade towards where I can feel the demon to be. Its eyes widen in surprise before it jumps back to avoid my attack. "How were you able to do that?! You couldn't have possibly known where I was!"
Sanemi chuckles as realisation dawns on him. "I get it now. Not bad, Naomi-chan."
I run at the demon and continue to swing my sword at it. I feel its vibration dancing away from me each time. When it jumps back, I flip backward while protruding a small blade from my left boot. It slices up the demon's chest. It cries out in anger.
I do the same thing again when I spin in a roundhouse kick, emitting another cry of rage and pain.
I place my foot down and turn to face the demon, sword gripped steadily in my hands as I retract my blade. I breathe heavily through the pain, using Total Concentration Constant to help numb it.
"Crystal Breathing, Fourth Form: Crystal Dust," I think, while focusing my First Form.
In the blink of an eye, I'd vanished from my current spot, ignoring the burst of pain in my body. The demon was going to attack Giyu, but I use my increased speed to slash its chest with my First Form, before reappearing right behind the demon in a millisecond, my tailbone length pink and purple hair swaying from the movement, my bangs shadowing my eyes.
Everyone seems to freeze out of surprise. When the demon crystallises and shatters, I grunt at the pain as I start to collapse, but then a pair of hands latch onto my waist, preventing me from falling.
I turn my head to see blue orbs swirling with concern and relief. "Naomi-chan... what do you think you're doing?! You're too injured to fight! Why would you push yourself?!" Giyu snaps towards the end, helping me to stand up straighter.
He frowns a me as Sanemi joins us. I say tiredly, blood leaking down my mouth, "I'm sorry. I had to take that chance to kill it."
Giyu frowns at me in disapproval, until his features soften and he wraps an arm around my waist, putting my left over his shoulders. I sheath my katana as he murmurs, "Well, I'm just glad you're safe and back with us. I thought we'd lost you."
Sanemi inputs, "He couldn't have saved his lover himself so he had to call for backup, which is why I'm here. How pathetic."
Giyu clenches his teeth as his eyes turn to annoyed white triangles at the Wind Hashira's comment. "That's... not true. I just couldn't risk bringing anymore harm to Naomi-chan," Giyu denies.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Admit it! You needed me, Tomioka," Sanemi teases, making me smile at them.
I suddenly feel a wave of dizziness wash over me and blackness dances at the edge of my vision.
"Naomi-chan?" Giyu utters as I start to fall forward.
"Naomi!" I hear both males exclaim before Giyu catches my waist.
Then, my mind was enveloped by blackness.