Butterfly
Saito, unfortunately, has to tell the bad news to Cho, she feels enormously guilty but she has to do it. The Blossom pillar called on Yatsu and told her to bring the nearest Kakushi to the area. The raven nodded and set off. Saito couldn't help but shed a tear.
She knows that men are ruthless and beyond fixing, but to act upon humans that are just living their best yet peaceful life is heartbreaking. Saito never wish for the people who wronged her to disappear on the face of the world, she just wanted to avenge her and her mother. Avenging to change them for the better.
These men probably had done the worse but in Saito's eyes, changing is better than killing. But change doesn't come without having blood on your hands at some point. Saying her prayers to them, wishing for the gods to take them if not then it's up to them.
After five minutes the helpers arrived. Yatsu snuggled on Saito's neck as the Kakushis ran towards the pillar.
"Ushikawa-sama! We have bought medical tools to help with your injury. Your crow told us that you were hurt." A female helper ran towards the pillar with a bag of first aid kits.
"Thank you, I'll leave the other to take care of the victims." Before Saito left the place, she went back to Ichiro's corpse and respectfully took his Noragi, to give to his wife as memorabilia. After that, the female kakaushi and the pillar went into a small hut and there did the treatment.
time skip
After the treatment Saito suggested the kakaushi join the group as it was still dark. The helper asked why but Saito just said she need to visit a lady whose waiting for her. The kakushi asked no further questions and left the pillar alone.
The same thing with Saito, she left the hut and brought the noragi with her. Yatsu nuzzled closer to her neck, feeling the cold breeze pass by them.
On the way to the town, Saito encounter a tall man wearing a dark Persian blue haori, and mud black hakama. He's carrying a shining blue and silver katana, similar to the sword of Saito's father. But it can't be her father's, it must be just a coincidence. A coincidence.
"Who are you?" Saito slowly steps aside, eyeing the tall mysterious male. It's 4 am already, there's no reason for him to wander around here unless he's also a demon slayer. He can't be a farmer with that expensive attire on. That's impossible.
"𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞?"
Saito looks over and saw that the man is wearing a fabric over the lower half of his face, probably to hide his identity if he IS secretly a Demon Slayer.
"Are you a Demon Slayer?"
"𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈 𝐚𝐦? 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞?"
"What?!... I was just asking! Now I feel embarrassed! Hnggg!..."
With that response, Saito already knew that he was not a slayer nor a human. Those bright purple and blue eyes are not human, he's a demon. In his eye is written with the kanji character for Upper Moon Seven.
He's an upper moon. But Saito has the upper hand in this situation, it's already 4:56 and the sun rises at 5:10 am. It'll be okay.
"𝐈'𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥. 𝐈 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝. 𝐑𝐮𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧."
Like hell is Saito's running away from a demon. You gotta be serious. Taking out her blade she pointed it toward the demon. He seems too lenient to the fact that a slayer is right infront of him.
"𝐈 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲." The man turn around and went back to searching for something. He arrogantly proceed to his findings, making Saito pissed.
"He's indirectly downgrading me! How dare he! I know I'm a human and all but, I'm a pillar. So I'm pretty strong! Not as strong as compadres but I'm still pretty good!"
Saito was caught up in her thoughts when she realized that the sun is slowly rising which initially means the demon is probably on his way to hide. Saito sneaked a blow but it only graze the man's mask, tearing it enough for his lower face to be revealed.
A specific scar is marked on his face, it was rather nerve-wracking for Saito. She was stunned for a couple of minutes till the demon finally hid himself away from the sun.
"That's the same scar that dad had. He can't be my dad. Most definitely not, dad is not a demon. There's no way. It's just a mere coincidence. The scar and all. Yeah definitely a coincidence!"
After that really crazy encounter, Saito went on heading back to Cho's house and tell her the bad news. Down the town she goes where the news will spread. Some store owners are now on their way to setting up their spots.
The pillar payed no mind and neatly folded the noragi. On top of a hill, she goes. It took the pillar three minutes to reach Cho's house. There she saw the beautiful lady sitting on the patio waiting patiently for Saito.
"𝑺𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒐-𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏! 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆! 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓? 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕? 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝑰𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒐?"
Cho ran towards the Blossom Pillar, frantically looking all over Saito who has scars on her cheek and blood on her haori. Cho eventually looks behind. The smile on her face suddenly dropped when she saw a specific blazer held by Saito.
"I'm very sorry. Did my best to act fast but it was too late. I was able to kill the perpetrator but was unable to bring back my husband alive. I thought you'd like to have his noragi, and I felt the responsibility to deliver it to you.
His body will be taken care of by our helpers. You don't have to worry, they'll handle everyone along with Ichiro with care. They'll stop by here when it's all handled. I'm very sorry Cho. My deepest condolences."
Saito handed the blazer to the shaking Cho. She couldn't believe that the love of her life, the one who she built a family with, the one who she trust ever so dearly, the one who she adore, and the one who she pledge to grow old with is now gone.
Cho felt as if her world is falling apart all of a sudden. Her hands are shaking tremendously as if they're cold. Tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to fall. Unable to comprehend words, Cho just accepted the jacket and clutched the noragi tight as she cried a river.
She screamed and wailed in agony and with immense sadness. Falling on her knees as she screamed the anguish. Saito kneeled before Cho and hugged her. No words are needed, just a simple gesture is enough to show that you're there to support them.
Minutes passed by and Cho grew tired of crying and passed out on the pillar's arms. Saito carefully carried Cho in bridal style, luckily she wasn't as heavy and the pillar was able to carry her inside.
Upon entering the house she laid Cho next to her still-asleep baby girl. Unconsciously smiled after seeing the baby is safe and sound. This is what Saito yearns for. There may be a sudden tide of challenge that had fallen onto the Tamura family, but I know they will overcome it.
Saito left a written letter next to Cho, and within the letter is an envelope filled with money. Enough for them to survive till Cho can provide for baby Ichika (一千花). Oh did I mention the baby girl's name is Ichika? Ichiro thought of that name. It means One thousand flowers.
❀
Saito quietly left the house and went back to her place to have some needed rest. As she was walking by, some of the Kakushis passed by the pillar and offered her a ride back to Saito's Inn. She didn't even argue and hopped right in. Everyone was not expecting her to tag along but kept quiet about it and let the pillar rest.
But as the pillow is about to take a nap, Acer and crow glided along with the carriage and went in through the open window. Their reveals Yatsu, holding a letter with her talons. The Blossom pillar took and letter and ripped the paper open to reveal a handwritten letter.
It was said that Tanjiro has now gained consciousness and started training to get back to his healthy and active body. Good for him, that kid is indeed extraordinary. He's built differently. Saito was too sleepy to write back so she just kept the letter and allowed Yatsu to nuzzle herself on the pillar's shoulder.
The Kakushis just watched as the pillar who's a very self-centered and very intimidating lady smiled sweetly. Showing her gentle side to strangers. She's not someone to be afraid of, she's just preserving herself and is afraid of opening up to people.
An hour had passed and Saito dropped by her small temporary Inn in the village that she was watching over. There haven't been many demon lurking around the village for five days which is good. That means she can relax for a little bit.
Having enough rest she wandered through the townlet. She went and stopped by Sato-obaasan's shop for a bite of her delicious cold soba. Unfortunately, Sato-obaasan is resting due to her back aching, so Sato-baasan's son is the one running the store.
Saito is pretty close to Sato-baasan's son, Matsumoto Asahi, and his wife Matsumoto Akane. Which is really cute because Asahi means Morning Sun and Akane means Deep Red.
The couple also has a cute baby boy who recently turned 3. Saito being the good auntie that she is gifted Hinata a Beigoma. Hinata is always excited whenever he sees Aunt Saito, and the two would even play together if she isn't busy.
"こんにちは (Konnichiwa) Asahi-san!"
"Oh ！こんにちは, Saito-tan! The usual?" Asahi turned around and saw the lethargic pillar, with her eyes heavy and dark circles under them. (ⁱ ᵗʸᵖᵉᵈ "ᵗᵃⁿ" ᵒⁿ ᵖᵘʳᵖᵒˢᵉ)
"Yes, please. Thank you." Saito sluggishly sat on the chair right up front of the counter and rested her head on the table.
"Coming right up!"
Asahi went ahead and made Saito's order. The pillar then asked where little Hinata is and fortunately he was just in the other room playing. Asahi told Saito that she can go ahead and play with Hinata while he cooks the food.
The said slayer went ahead and walked behind the counter. In the other room and she was greeted by the very cute Hinata.
"𝚂𝚊𝚒𝚝𝚘-𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗! 𝙷𝚒! 𝙻𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝙸'𝚖 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚢 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐!"
"Woah! Let me see! What is it?" Saito sat down beside Hinata and smiled at Akane who was looking over at Hinata.
"𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚌𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚐! 𝙸𝚜 𝚒𝚝 𝚌𝚞𝚝𝚎?"
"Good job Hinata! The cat one is my favorite!"
"That frog looked terrifying. At least the cat was less creepy. But I ain't telling him that! I'm not gonna crush a cute little boy's confidence!"
Hinata being the cutest that he is ran towards his beautiful mother and bragged about how great his artwork is. He even insisted that it be hung on the wall. Akane patted his head and agreed for the masterpiece to be displayed.
"Saito-tan! Your order is done!" Asahi called out indicating that the cold soba and a plate of gyoza is done and are waiting for her.
"Sorry Hinata, Auntie has to eat. We can play after I'm done eating. Are you okay with that?"
"𝚄𝚖! 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚘𝚔𝚊𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚖𝚎 𝙰𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚎! 𝙰𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚠𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚔𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚖𝚊 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚞𝚖𝚊 𝚍𝚘𝚕𝚕?" Hinata beamed in excitement. He then felt his eyes getting heavy and let out a big yawn.
"Of course! Wait for me okay? Don't fall asleep like the last time!" The pillar joked as she pinched his very soft and squishy cheeks.
Enough of that, Saito headed back to the shop, and on the counter is her order waiting for her. She just remembered how hungry she was earlier.
Saito sat down and began to dig in. A few customers came by and order food, so Saito had a little chat with Asahi. Slurping and enjoying her first meal since last night and it's already 12.
Akane went behind the counter and told Saito that Hinata felt sleepy and went to have a nap, which means they can't play. Saito just giggled and snorted, she already expected for Hinata to fall asleep.
"He does enjoy his naps. So anyways, how is Sato-baasan?"
"𝑆ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑦𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑦. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝑊𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑘 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛? 𝐼 𝑠𝑎𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟. 𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐻𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑤 𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑐𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑡."
"Pfft- He would've if he did see that. And that's great! Sato-baasan should really stop overworking herself, especially at her age. Isn't she like 74 right now?"
"𝑌𝑒𝑎ℎ, 𝐼 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑂𝑘𝑎𝑎𝑠𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑠𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡. 𝐵𝑖𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛. 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝐴𝑠𝑎ℎ𝑖 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘."
"Yep! That's true, she didn't listen to me. Her one and only son. So how's your mission? Mom gets pretty nervous whenever she hears that you are on your mission." Ichiro appeared out of nowhere, hugging Akane from the back.
Saito let out a snort, Sato-baasan is indeed very hard-headed and doesn't like being dictated. "Tell her I'm all good now. I went on a mission in this town and was reported to have multiple men go missing. You're lucky no demon is trying to feast on you."
Before you ask, Yes. The Matsumoto family knows about the demon's existence more so because Sato-baasan's husband was slaughtered by one.
It heavily affected the family but they were able to get through it, and they're also told to not spread any information about demons because it would be more chaotic. So they just kept it to themselves. The corporation was able to help the family go back to their feet, so they try to help others in return for the corps' kindness.
"That's good. We also heard that Uzui-san retired. Is that true? I've always been so jealous of that man. I mean come on, he gets all the girls-" Ichiro choked when Akane playfully slapped his chest. He of course apologized and showered Akane with kisses on the neck.
Saito giggled at how cute the two are. They're definitely soulmates. "Yeah... He and his wives decided to back off. Which is kind of a problem because there's already a vacant spot, then he decided to drop out."
"𝑂ℎ... 𝐼 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑅𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑜𝑘𝑢-𝑠𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑. 𝐼'𝑚 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦, 𝑆𝑎𝑖𝑡𝑜-𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒. 𝑊𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑠."
"Oh, it's alright! I understand that it's still very fresh. I can accompany you guys if you want?"
"That wouldn't be necessary Saito-tan. Plus you need to recharge before you go back to work. You wouldn't want to overwork your body, and you wouldn't want Okaasa to know that you're overworking again. You know what happened before."
"Oh, yeah. That sermon took hours, I almost fell asleep. Torture honestly, I was just waiting for her to spank me." Saito shivered just from remembering that incident.
The three of them laughed at Saito's words. She's right, Sato-baasan can be overprotective and sometimes it's too much. Especially when the demon attack occurred, she became more strict.
But if it wasn't for her, Saito wouldn't have another mother figure in her life. It's all thanks to her. Sato-baasan is like the reincarnation of Saito's mother, a headstrong woman, loving, protective, youthful, open-minded, and most importantly she's kind.
"𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑆𝑎-𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛, 𝐼'𝑚 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑚𝑎 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ. 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑤𝑒 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑛, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛 𝐼𝑛𝑛. 𝐼'𝑚 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑚𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑑." Akane held Saito's hand as she gently caresses it.
"I'm proud of you Saito-tan! We all are! Okaasan, Akane, and I will be here. And also Hinata."
Saito smiled at them, no words were needed. She's slowly healing. Slowly moving on. Slowly facing her fears.
The adults chatted for a few more minutes then Saito decided to head back to her little apartment to have a little rest. They eventually said their goodbyes.
The pillar then heads and entered the Inn which consists of a single futon, working desk, lamp, and a closet. It's pretty cozy. Plopping on her futon, she was immediately knocked out. Her aching shoulder and bruised body can finally have the rest they need.