More than 2400 words await you in this chapter 😌
Happy reading huns! ❤️
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(y/n)'s POV:
"Welcome my children." The blind man greeted us, coming out from the building.
Looking to the side I saw Tengen immediately getting into a half kneeling position, bowing down for the black haired man, Kagaya, the head of the pillars and demon slayer corps.
At least he won't be as big-mouthed as he usually is when this man is present.
Out of respect I slightly bowed down for him too, greeting him back politely. There was a small smile on his face. Somehow he looked peaceful to me, yet so worried about something. I figured it must be because of the urgent case he asked my help for.
"Lord Kagaya, I brought miss Rengoku as you wished." Tengen spoke up, still bowing his head, watching the ground in front of himself.
"Thank you, Tengen." He said. My ex was about to stand up and leave when Kagaya called out to him. "Please stay. The mission I'm giving her affects you too afterall."
"Yes sir."
Great... That's just great... I think I already know what he is going to say, what Tengen's mission would be that is.
Kagaya turned to me. "I believe you are curious why I need your help miss Rengoku." He smiled.
"If I may request, call me (y/n), please."
"Alright. (Y/n) it is then." He continued. "There's a village not far from here. It was threatened and attacked by a demon. One of my children already took care of it, but a lot of villagers became victims due to some kind of poison. I sent there Shinobu first, but she couldn't cure them. Then Tengen reminded me about Kyojuro's sister, you that is. That you are an expert at such things."
It was sad to hear that innocent people were attacked again. Fortunately the demon has been killed, yet many humans fell victim to some kind of unknown poison. I faced something similar in the past when Tengen and Tomioka was poisoned and I believe this is not going to be easy either. Lucky thing that I always read my books to keep my knowledge fresh about these stuff, since it's quite rare to run into poisoned people.
In my shop we usually sell tea materials and common herbs used by average people. Thanks to Ren I have a few doctor customers as well who need special things too. And of course I make medicines too out of the herbs. Even neighboring towns got to know about them and come to my shop to buy them. I consider myself lucky.
"I really am. I will try my best." I slightly bowed down. "Where is this village exactly?"
"I was about to tell you." He chuckled a bit and looked over Tengen. "You know that village a few miles away to the south from here, right?"
"Yes, of course."
"Escort her there and stay with her in case anything would happen. Perhaps she might even need your help." He ordered.
My instincts are always right...
I had a feeling Kagaya would make Tengen stick around me and I guess I have no other choice but let it happen. With this mission, I will have enough time to think about my private life problems. Altough it's not going to be easy with my ex around since he is kinda a part of it too.
With that being said, Kagaya wished us luck and went back inside the building, leaving me and Tengen alone.
It felt a bit awkward. The journey here was quiet as well. We didn't exchange more words than what was needed. He didn't try anything funny which I found strange. Perhaps he finally accepted that I don't want to be with him anymore.
Yet somehow, for some unknown reason I miss his tries on winning me back. Why do I feel this way? Why do I want it back even though that I rejected him countless times and I still would?
All these years, Ren was there for me. He showed me love, respect, kindness... and I reciprocated it with cheating. I cheated on him with my ex...
Before we got together, all I felt was pain, stress, anger, loneliness and he was the one who was there for me to help me get through those though times. And this-
Tengen patted my shoulder to snap me out of my thoughts. "Alright, princess. Let's get going." He grinned down at me.
And here I was thinking that he changed...
I sighed and looked to the side, letting him lead the way. Walking side by side I tried to distract myself with watching the scenery, the plants, the trees... literally anything to avoid looking at Tengen.
For 4 whole fucking years we were seperated and now I meet him more frequently than when we used to be together. Someone above us, god or whatever really likes to mess things up as it seems.
Soon reaching that certain village together with the sound pillar, I halted to a stop before entering. The sight was horrible. Many buildings were almost or entirely destroyed. There were medics and voluntaries all around, trying to help the villagers with anything they could. Giving food, treating their wounds or even building up the destroyed buildings. That demon must have been pretty strong.
"Oh my god..." I whispered.
"Hm?" Tengen turned over his shoulder to look at me. "You okay?"
I patted my cheeks with my hands to stay focused on the mission, then continued my way further inside. Everybody seemed busy so it was hard to find anyone who could navigate us where our help was needed.
There was a medic who was examining a kid. Yes, he was busy too, but he must know where the poisoned people rest.
"Show me your arm, please." He kindly asked the poor boy who was full of cuts and purple bruises.
"But it hurts!" He cried, causing me to frown. I can't even imagine what he had to go through because of that demon.
"I promise it won't hurt. This is just disinfectioner." The medic tried to reassure him, but the young boy shook his head.
A small smile crept up on my face. He reminded me of Senjuro a lot. When he was small, he once fell in the garden, bruising his knee and one of his arms. He only had a few scratches, but I wanted to treat him anyway by disinfecting his bruises. I remember how stubborn he was and wouldn't let me do it for long minutes. This kid here acted the same way.
I walked beside the medic and bent down to the kid's level. "Hey there buddy! I'm sure this medic don't want to hurt you. He just tries to help so your bruises wouldn't hurt anymore and wouldn't get infected. I know you are though and brave enough to endure that small stinging which is caused by the disinfectioner. Grown men like you endure it too. You are a man too, aren't you?" I tilted my head a bit.
He only blinked at me with a puzzled expression, not even noticing that the medic is already working on disinfecting his bruises. I could successfully distract him by talking to him.
"W-who are you?" He shyly asked.
"There you go. It's done." The medic spoke up and the kid immediately snapped his head to his direction, noticing that he really has been treated unbeknowst to him while I was talking to him. He turned to me again and I giggled innocently.
From the background I faintly heard Tengen's deep chuckling too.
The medic spoke up. "Thank you for the help. We are here for half an hour and he wouldn't let me do my job." He said.
"Don't mention it. It's really nothing."
"I haven't seen none of you yet. Are you from around here?"
I shook my head. "No. We came to help. I'm Rengoku (y/n) and I came to cure the poisoned people."
"The other person whom they sent couldn't cure them either... Are you sure you can do something?" He asked.
"I'm a herbal medicine expert and I encountered other unknown poisons too in the past. I think I can handle this too." I told him. "Could you please tell us, where are those people in need?"
He nodded and begun talking again, telling us where should we go exactly. We got some extra information too. Some people have already died because of the poison. The medics tried everything yet they couldn't do anything about it.
Me and Tengen went inside the building to see for ourselves what this poison is capable of. The patients could barely move or talk. Those with the most critical condition rested in a seperate room, so I started there, observing their symptoms, their reactions, checking their pulse. Just the usual.
I brought a small bag with myself with herbs that are mostly specifically used for antidotes, and occupied a desk for myself whereas I could create a few versions to see how their body would react to it. Non of them would be harmful.
"Can I help you in something?" Tengen stepped behind me.
I put up a finger in the air to signal him I need a few seconds, since I was writing down the recipe I was currently creating so I wouldn't forget what I tried already. Then I spoke up. "Sorry. What did you just say?"
"I was just asking if I could help you somehow." He repeated.
I stood up from my seat, holding a small glass in my hand which had an antidote in it I finished right now. "You can't really help wi- ah!" I stumbled upon something and almost fell down on the ground.
Two strong pair of arms caught me and held me close however. Fortunately I didn't drop the antidote from my hands.
I was so startled that I didn't even notice I'm having a staring contest with Tengen.
"Careful." He whispered and smirked. "As it seems you definitely need my help."
"Shut up!" I muttered and stood back up on my feet, continuing my way towards the first bed whereas a woman in her middle ages laid.
I gave the antidote to her and it was time to wait. However just in case it wouldn't work, I started to make a different one too. I knew I wouldn't be lucky enough to succeed with the first attempt.
Five people were resting in this room. If I didn't know they were alive, I would say they are all dead. None of them moved an inch, their breathing was so slow that I could barely see their chest moving up and down. It was a miracle they were still alive and if I don't act fast, they have like 1 or perhaps 2 days left. No more.
I didn't even notice it was already dark outside till Tengen turned on the lights in the room for me.
I sat up straight and sighed, closing my eyes for a moment. The next thing I knew was that felt a delicious scent with my nose and heard a small tap on my desk in front of myself.
Tengen brought me a plate of food. "You shouldn't forget to eat or you won't have energy." He said, standing close beside me.
I so badly wanted my senses to stop working but it was too late, because Tengen's scent filled up my nostrils in an instant and since he was close to me, I could clearly feel the warmth radiating from his body. So warm it made me shiver.
"Thanks." I muttered, avoiding to look back at him.
"After this you should take a rest too. You worked all day."
"But I didn't progress anything..." I frowned, staring at the food in front of myself. Barely visible lines of steam escaped the bowl, signaling me that it's still warm.
"There's always tomorrow and if you don't sleep enough, your brain won't work that effectively either." He suggested.
"These people here might die the next day! We couldn't know!" I retorted.
"You were always grumpy in the past too when you were hungry." He let out a small laugh.
Speaking of food my mouth started to water due to the delicious scent in front of myself and soon I started digging it in my mouth. With that Tengen left the room. My stomach was entirely empty until now and I certainly felt better after I finished eating.
I stood up from my seat and went out of the room, so I could clean the single piece of dirty dish, encountering Tengen on my way, who took it out from my hand.
"Hey!" I whined.
"Go to sleep."
I wanted to yank the stolen bowl out of his hand but he raised it high in the air, making it impossible for me to reach it. "Give it back!" I jumped up, only to fail reaching it. I even grabbed his shoulder for support to be able to catch it but it was still no use.
"So cute." He said and I stopped my lame attempts by staring back at him, not noticing that my hand was still on his shoulder.
"What?" I blinked at him.
He inhaled shakily. "Dammit, you have to stop looking at me like that." He breathed out.
"Like what?" I spat back.
"It makes me wanna kiss you."
My heart skipped a beat and I had no idea how to retort. Tengen always had the ability to leave me speechless just by one look or one word.
"Stop it!" I said and he grabbed my wrist, pulling it towards his chest.
"I will never stop. You are a coward and you know it. Stop lying to yourself." He said.
Averting my gaze I replied. "I don't care about you!" The bitter lie flew from my lips as I desperately tried to pull away from him.
For a brief second a hurt expression crossed his eyes before he let me go.
Tengen shook his head, staring at me as if he could see in the depth of my soul.
"Such a goddamned liar."
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End of Chapter 56
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3 new pictures I made for you huns ❤️
Tengen trapping y/n after the festival 👇
Pics can be found on my pinterest too: https://pin.it/4MQJJc1
-Hungarian Shinobi